The Perfect Essence

Every once in a while I will stumble across a story on the internet or see a news report on television about a heinous crime committed by an incredibly young person. When I see a 16 year old gang member on television, in a jail-issued jump suit being arraigned in court, standing there with a smirk on his face accused of murder, seemingly proud his crime and without a worry about his bleak future, like most I am shocked. My brain which was nurtured and developed in a positive environment can only see the waste of a life squandered. But at the core of my head-shaking consternation is the knowledge that he, very likely possesses, many virtues that most of us hold dear. He is probably a very loyal person who loves and is committed to his gang and its members. He has the courage to live by his convictions and act in ways that risk his life and freedom. He lives by a code of honor and holds true to his beliefs better than most of us who are aghast by his deeds. He applies all his virtue in completely destructive ways because that is what his life experience has taught him to do. As the report ends or if I am able to turn away from the horrifying visual, I am always left with the same troubling question: how did this boy get so angry and mean?

Over the past 15 years I have been experimenting and learning about all the applications of wood in the building of furniture. When I go to the lumber yard to select materials I like to walk around and see all the different wood products available. Row upon row they are all stacked according to type and style waiting with limitless application potentials in their perfect elementary essence. Once I am finished gazing at the different types of lumber, I will then choose the ones I need, carefully load them into my truck, and drive them to my little workshop. In my workshop there are many tools to shape the raw wood into a pieces of furniture. There are power saws and drills, clamps and glues, paints and fillers, screws and nails, and hand tools of every kind but before I use any of my tools on the pristine wood I will measure and plot each action. Experience has taught me that carelessness in the beginning will cause waste and loss in the end. When I am successful I will produce a piece of furniture and a few small scraps of wood. When I have failed I have been left with a number wrongly formed pieces of wood most of which are in the truck waiting to go to the dump. My tools wrongly applied can and have stolen the perfect essence of the wood, reducing it to a pile of useless refuge.

In nurseries all over the world right now there are babies lying side by side. Each is unique and yet identically perfect in essence. They individually wait to be brought home by people who will take their innocent perfection and begin to define who they will become. Once out of the protection of the hospital they will be thrust into the workshop of the world. Society and all of its tools will begin to shape that baby into a child and ultimately an adult. Positive tools in the areas of education, nutrition, healthcare and overall environment can help in the realization of value from the perfect essence. However, too often it is poverty, violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and unsafe living conditions that shape the baby into the troubled and dangerous adult. For example, the16 year old gang member standing before the judge. His once perfect essence gone, he is now ready for the ever growing human scrap heap piling up in prisons and cemeteries. While it is fair for society to be proud of all its successes it is also true that society and we as coconspirators within that society are equally responsible for most of the human failure.

In my work shop against the wall, there is a place where I stack pieces of wood that are either left over from past projects or salvaged from my mistakes. I see each piece of oddly shape wood and each piece of completed furniture as examples of the power I have to create a positive or negative results. The discarded wood encourages me to work cautiously by reminding me of my history of poor planning and the misuse of my tools. By valuing the perfect essence of each baby in the nursery and equally applying the many positive societal tools we have at our disposal we could insure a safer and brighter future for us all.