Resourcefulness
- Pathways of Possibility
- May 13
- 2 min read
What does it mean to be resourceful? Here Dana Hoffer finds inspiration in an old television show viewed with fresh eyes.
He’s trapped in a deep pit, an IV dripping numbing drugs into his veins, his hands handcuffed. Then…
He rips out the IV with his teeth, uses the needle to pick the lock on the cuffs, builds a satellite transmitter from a TV antenna, prevents an atomic bomb from detonating over Los Angeles, turns detergent and a toothpick into a smoke bomb, and leaps from a fifth-floor window with nothing but a garbage bag and a fire extinguisher.
MacGyver*.
Even as a kid, I never missed an episode. How could you resist the magic of a man who could build a plane from Popsicle sticks and a Swiss Army knife? MacGyver always seemed to have a solution for everything, an uncanny ability to see the hidden potential in whatever was at hand. The word “impossible” simply wasn’t in his vocabulary.
That’s why I was delighted when Hollywood decided to revive the series a few years ago. The agency he works for may now boast hackers who can break into any account, touchscreens the size of a living room wall, and even AI-driven robots. But MacGyver? He still carries that Swiss Army knife and still manages to whip up miracles - like an airplane made from Popsicle sticks.
And yet, one day I saw a clip that struck me even more deeply. Each episode opens with a short sequence: an impossible escape, a car chase through North Korea, or a desperate struggle in a crocodile-infested river. In this particular episode, MacGyver and his partner Jack are submerged in a swamp, trapped up to their necks in thick mud under the burning jungle sun. They can’t move a muscle, and the danger of drying out looms over them.
Jack, however, is only half-worried. After all, MacGyver always finds a way. He urges him to think of something, and you can see it happen: MacGyver’s eyes scanning the scene, his mind racing, the gears turning. And then he suddenly brightens and says: “I do have an idea!”
He opens his mouth and shouts:
“Help! Help!”
For me, that was his greatest moment. The moment he recognized that, despite his brilliance, despite his limitless creativity and extraordinary skills, what was needed now was something else entirely. When the tools you’ve always relied on no longer serve you, it’s no small thing to set them aside and reach for a new one. And for someone like MacGyver, whose toolbox of resourcefulness was vast and dazzling, that act of letting go was the greatest proof of adaptability.
*Note: MacGyver was an American network television series that originally aired from 1985-1992.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also wish to read Dana's writings The Permeating Future; Be Curious Instead of Afraid; and You Were Given So Much.
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