The Woodworker

What makes a man stay up for hours on end absorbed in some task? The straight answer to that question is passion. And I have some real-life examples/demonstrations of passion around me.

My father is a classic example. A scholarly man, who is also ironically a craftsman.

Artisans are usually regarded as less than their contemporaries because they usually work with their hands. This prejudice while unfounded is perpetuated because most people who are artisans are usually unskilled  (referring to a lack of a college education thereof). But even as far as artisans are concerned, there is an elite group that has separated themselves from the crowd. Painters, designers, visual artists, photographers e.t.c.All of them, craftspeople. But because of the visual orientation of today’s media, these people are respected because the work they do is invaluable.

My father is a paradox. A highly gifted academician, and a visually oriented one at that. He had a college education. Not the watered down type that some have today and claim that they have gone to college, but that thorough type that a man can defend wherever he goes. But at the same time, he has an avid fondness for woodworking. And because of his college background, he would always come up with the most innovative ways to solve any given problem.

Get this. His fondness of woodworking and all things mechanical is not driven by a love for aesthetics, but rather, a passion and a love for utility. Just this desire for something to work as efficiently as possible.

I cannot describe this passion. It is something that can only be witnessed firsthand. Whenever we would have any gadgets at home that needed fixing, he would set out some time evenings or weekends and just pour himself into the task of fixing whatever needed fixing. And he wouldn’t just do it in a haphazard manner, but in a very thorough fashion, in a way that solved the problem as comprehensively as possible.

It’s like he always has design hunger pangs. He sees a problem, and the next thing that comes to his mind is the possible solutions to that one problem. Immediately he sees a problem, wheels start turning in his head.

His approach to design is not merely one that aims for a pleasing aesthetic, it’s rather one strange approach that eschews the virtue of function over form- in fact, every other element of design including aesthetics. I really think this is as a result of his background in Mechanical Engineering.

So in short, here is someone who values the function of a thing over what it looks like. If this doesn’t define utilitarianism, I don’t know what else does.

Accompanying this fondness of his is a skill set that has been honed to near perfection by years of practice.

He has this uncanny ability to judge distances accurately to the millimeter. He would sometimes have to make estimates of length or height in some situations that calipers could not be used, (and he was usually correct in his estimates).

He also has this intuitive knowledge of the strength of materials too. Knowing which materials would crack under pressure and the ones that wouldn’t. A knowledge of the materials that have give, and to which extent that they possess it over others. It’s always a beautiful thing to watch him work putting to use all of these acquired knacks.

He would just go on for hours at a time, without stopping to rest or eat. Until everything was functioning properly. I have my passions and know what it is like to be so absorbed in something that you just get into the zone, and little else matters. That zone is the best place to be.

Find your passion(s), you never know who you might inspire along the way.