uncommon sense...

Yesterday at ESSA, a small group of wood carvers from around the area converged to whittle, carve, share techniques and encourage each other. It was nice for me to observe as they worked quietly together, and perhaps next month I'll take a project along and join them for some quiet work.

Working with real wood, getting it to do what's in the mind's eye requires patience, and careful observation. As our minds have been overwhelmed with too much information, generated by others in their efforts to manipulate us, it is good to slow down, clear the mind of useless data points and destructive ideology, and engage directly and purposefully in the real world. If the tool is not applied to take advantage of the natural proclivities of the wood, having to do with grain direction, we screw up, and it's noticeable in real time.

In other words, and other worlds apart from the one that politicians and their scheming handlers have mangled for us, there's a lot to learn from the exercise of simple human creative craftsmanship.

It's like healthcare in America. Minds have become inhabited by distraction. One side warns of socialism, and the other asserts need, when both should be looking at the facts. If we, in Carroll County, Arkansas are dying in general, two years or more before our time, as measured and compared with others in our state, and we in Arkansas are dying 6 years before our time in comparison to other countries where national health care plans provide for all citizens, what we have created for ourselves is a simple matter of life and death for ourselves and for others in our community.

There is something simple that happens when a man or woman picks up a gouge or knife and attempts to whittle or carve a chunk of real wood. We learn that it's incontrovertible in that it has qualities of grain, hardness and individual temperament that are not to be denied. The same is true of the real world, and a craftsman, trained to observe what's real and override the blast of disinformation, distraction and purposeful deceit, may stand a chance of putting real things in their place. Only God can help us if we do not.

The photo shows the joinery of a small jewelry chest of drawers. Next comes the routing of drawer guides. The design of the chest is such that it narrows toward the top, leaving it firmly planted in the real world. Would it not be a wonderful thing if our political schemers and voters were as firmly planted in reality?

Make, fix, and create.