Before the cold snap arrives I thought it best to get a few small menial jobs completed before tomorrow. I called a gentleman and asked if he would come and help me with getting some loose ends on a home tied up and he agreed. What I was expecting to take several hours was finished in about 45 minutes.
Getting a helping hand or two once in a while is not to be so lightly dismissed because when there are two or more, the work goes quickly as long as everyone is on the same page and agreeable as to what needs to be done as well as remaining focused. This gives us an opportunity to open up more time to do things that one can do themselves makes for a project to be completed even more quickly simply because the time was free.
I can’t begin to think of all the times I’ve seen people singularly burying themselves in a work project that could’ve been more easily managed were there others to assist. Yes, everyone wants to save a dollar or two, but if people would do as I mentioned; look into trading skills and labor. Isn’t that how things got accomplished in the dawn of our Nation? The bartering for goods and services was how people created a livelihood and managed to carve out a section of wilderness and started building upon it. The early general stores was not only where people purchased items, but also where people would sell or trade their goods for things they were in need of at the time. Can you envision someone walking in with a crate of live chickens and walking out with a sack of sugar, coffee or flour? People wonder why so many communities were created near bodies of water. In those days, there was no running water or sewage systems. Fresh water was to be had only from springs, rivers or lakes. There are numerous towns and cities that have “Springs” in their names due to there being a natural spring in their areas. Mills were built on the streams and rivers so the wheat, corn, barley, oats and sorghum grown in the could be milled for either family’s use, or sold and or traded.
Living in the 21st Century, we all take far too much for granted when looking at all the modern conveniences that use either natural gas or electricity to perform tasks. Can you imagine what would happen if our city was without electricity for several days or longer? There would be no electricity to turn the turbines that pump our city’s water out of the aquifer. I’m not meaning sound like a doomsday scenario person, but simply to encourage the general public to understand how things work as well as what to do should one of our basic necessities cease to provide tasks of which we are accustomed.
My dear clients of whom I have before spoken, offered today to give me some old growth wood that will match sections missing in a building. They said I had to help them load and unload, so I changed my clothes and went out to help. I sometimes think of things to say while doing menial tasks simply to help time pass. I said, “Do you know what “Viele Handen machen light Arbeit” means in German?” They know some German but didn’t completely know this phrase. After a moment, I said,”It means, “Many hands make light work.””
We got a laugh or two, but it was indeed appropriately meant for the circumstances.
