a question, but not really a question...

This month the Furniture Society published a conference report entitled "the state of the craft", and it is an interesting bit of reading. In one panel discussion on the subject "Why?", an audience member queried,

"We're makers. Our experiences are different from most other people around us, and this ties into the political. We're looking at a country where nobody makes anything. Industry is leaving the United Sates and we're not even in industry, we make things by hand. Although this paradigm is in opposition, we're not thinking negatively but positively by providing a role model and template for what we'd like to see -- a society that makes things."

When you realize that making has been the defining characteristic of the human species since its origins, you begin to understand that we are at a crossroads. We are either to be redefined on the individual basis as mere consumers, or we are challenged to take life by the hand and make. When we know what the choice entails, we know we have no real choice if we hope to sustain the continuous thread of our humanity. We live empty or live full. In terms of meaning, consumption of stuff leaves us empty. Making things leaves us full. Sadly,there are those to whom circumstances have denied the full expression of their humanity.