so glad to have tools.

I am so glad to have tools and to know how to use them. Tonight after dinner when I turned on the kitchen faucet to wash the dishes, I noticed water running out of the cabinet door onto the floor. A bit of time with the mop, a few minutes more to find the right wrench and the leak is fixed. The drain pipe had worked its way loose over time and now with a small amount of experience, a mind trained in problem solving and a pipe wrench I bought at the old Perkins Mill in 1976, I avoided what many home owners might have faced... a late night high priced emergency plumbing call. Where's Joe when you need him? Never mind, I don't.

I don't know how many these days have the opportunity to face down minor household emergencies and feel the better as a result. While I'm not hoping for any more leaks tonight, I wish this feeling of self-satisfaction for all my readers.

Unfortunately, children raised with gameboys, and other forms of electronic entertainment and distraction may fall through the cracks and be left unfamiliar with the operation of common tools and thus never experience the sense of lasting mastery and self-confidence that their use provides.