I love to get my hands dirty, so I guess it follows that I like to see other people with dirty hands. However, Karen is an anomaly. She doesn't like to get her hands dirty, and yet I'm still wildly attracted to her. Hey, if nothing else, it proves I'm flexible. But I digress.....
In my part-time job, I proctor various exams at the local community college. Recently, I spent some time with people who were taking tests for automotive certification. Every night I was there, I found myself in awe of the people who came in to take the tests. Truly.
I have two brothers who are auto mechanics, so maybe I just have a weakness for the people who do this work, but I don't think that entirely explains it. These people come in, after a full day of work, grease still under their fingernails, and they sit down and take tests. Tests on car engines, transmissions, heavy truck systems, school bus repair--you get the idea. I can't imagine these tests are easy; they are meant to ensure the people who maintain and repair our vehicles know what they're doing.
In my opinion, people who can fix things are the most important people on the planet. As we come to rely on machinery for more and more, so we come to depend on those people who can fix those machines. People who can actually look at something and know what's wrong, or can trouble-shoot (ie, fiddle with it), and can then figure out how to repair it.
My grandfather was a carpenter--a cabinet maker, to be exact. He could take pieces of wood, and make the most beautiful, study, working cupboards--they were built to last, and they did. He also built a house that he and my grandma lived in until their deaths. I'll bet there has been little, structurally, that has failed in the 60 years this house has stood. My sister and I will remember it as the safe, solid foundation of our childhoods.
A few years ago, during my School Board days, I was asked to speak to a group of high school students who were being honored for their achievements in "technical fields"--home building, drafting, home ec, auto repair, etc. In my brief remarks, I tried to impress upon them how important the work they might choose to do would be so important to our society. As I said that night, architects can dream the most awesome buildings, palaces, and cathedrals, but without someone with the expertise and knowledge to build them, they remain just dreams.
In these days of bank failures and Ponzi schemes and politicians playing games, it's good to know that we can still rely on those who build the buildings that withstand earthquakes and the automobiles which safely get us from one place to the next. You know, those people who take a shower after they come home from work.
