Put that ox on the treadmill already!

So, the other week I went to a museum with a friend of mine. There was a lot of old farming equipment and for whatever reason, most of it wasn’t labeled or identified in anyway.  Thus, my friend was trusting me to know what most of the stuff was since I’m from farm country out West. We were doing fine until we turned a turn and she stopped dead in her tracks and turned to me, “What in the world is a wooden treadmill doing in here?!’ Ah, yeah, I could instantly see why there was confusion on this point. My friend was thinking in terms of exercise equipment not farm equipment. Okay, I quickly explained the purpose of the thing. Oh, and in case you, my dear reader, don’t know – it’s for oxen. They walk on the treadmill to provide power to basic farm equipment like threshers and such. Well, the look of puzzlement on my friend’s face was rather comical. Pretty obvious she’d never heard of such a thing. Then, a frown started to grow, eyes scrunched up, a finger began to tap her lips. Finally, a giant smile sprang forth, “I know how to solve the energy crisis! I don’t know why someone hasn't thought of this before!” It was my turn to cringe; I was so afraid of where this was going. And yeah, the idea went about where I thought it would. She thought we should just hook up every treadmill, exercise bike, whatever else to the grid and poof, we’d have all the electricity we’d ever need. And, well, I hate to admit this, but I blurted out something to the effect of “I’m not going to trust my fridge to the whim of someone feeling the need to exercise or not.” Yikes, dream crushed. My friend deflated quicker than a balloon stuck with a pin. It was so wrong of me to do. Because let’s face it, what we need right now is more dreamers. More people who are willing to think outside of the box and come up with bold solutions that work for everyone. Not like some of these ideas I’ve been hearing lately that benefit this group or that. No, ideas that truly will work for everyone are the only solution. Okay, okay, I know that’s probably to big of an ask in this day and age. But that’s my dream, a world where everyone gets what they need. You're more than welcome to crush it. I'm fully aware it's impossible.