make, fix, create.

Yesterday I had an interview with the features editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She's writing a profile article that will be in the statewide Sunday paper on August 11. She wanted me to tell the story of my life.

I talked about the hands and how they shape character and intelligence. The hands have always done that. Anaxagoras had stated it clearly when he said that man is the wisest of all animals because he has hands. So what I share is not something new that I discovered myself. In fact, you can learn the same principles by observing your own life.

When and under what circumstances did you learn something that had a profound effect on the direction of your own life? Think, reflect and learn. Just as a friend alerted me to the fact that my brains are in my hands, you can test the idea yourself. Then act upon what you've learned. Make yourself useful in service to what you know.

"The hand is the instrument for perfecting the other senses and developing the endowments of the mind itself." -- Sir Charles Bell.

In other words, to fail to educate the hands is also to fail in the development of the mind. And so to teach well, one must make the decision (and the effort), even in rebellion against the established order of education, to teach hands on.

The box shown is for my sister Sue's ashes. I'll rout the bottom edge, fit a bottom, sand it, and apply a clear finish that will bring the color to life.

Make, fix and create.