BASIC APPRECIATION OF COMMON THINGS

A basic appreciation is important for context.

Things are usually more complicated than they seem.

A brick is a brick, just some fired up mud, until you see them working together.

In the hands of a skilled craftsman, a brick is a jewel.

What else deserves a second look? A towel rack.

After getting work done in the bathroom, the last thing was hanging towel racks.

They are chrome bars, tubes, that fit into hollow ball holders on each side.

The holders have a bracket on the back that you screw into the wall and place the holder over and secure with a set screw on the bottom edge.

It’s a common thing that deserves basic appreciation. Why?

The thing comes with instructions on three ways to attach the bracket to the wall.

It has to go on straight or else the tube won’t fit.

It has to be the right distance from the other bracket or the tube won’t fit.

In other words, look at the towel rack the next time you’re in a bathroom.

You’ll know if it was a pro job, a hack job, or somewhere in between.

 

All About That Towel

If you wash your hands in the bathroom, and you should, the next step is drying them.

In the commercial world the choices are air blower or paper towels.

After hearing about air blowers distributing bacteria, I use a paper towel or my clothes.

What kind of bacteria would you expect to find in a public restroom?

That bacteria. No thanks.

At home it’s a towel, just not the same towel you might dry your face with.

Without a towel rack, the hand towel is hanging around in different places.

Not anymore.

Now the hand towel hangs on the hand towel rack; face drying is optional, but it’s a hand towel.

In a bathroom.

Even in a residential bathroom with a heated floor a towel is a better choice.

Until I put up the racks, the hand towel hung over the side of the tub.

After things got closer to finished and I could move back into my bedroom, no towel rack.

As I explained to my wife, the job isn’t done until the finishing touches are complete.

Like a towel rack.

So after all the demolition and construction, I get credit for the grande finale?

I’ll take it, and you should too.

After all, if the details aren’t right the whole project looks half done.

 

A Basic Appreciation Of Lasting Things

We know which little pig’s house didn’t get blown down.

The brick house.

I saw a video of a brick house being raised onto a new cement foundation.

Brick and cement are so common we just walk past without a thought.

But think about it.

Today’s brick is a descendant of the earliest bricks.

Like the one little pig, early people needed secure shelter once they had their food source dialed in.

From the cave to a stone shelter to bricks.

We know this because ancient bricks have been excavated.

Thousands of years ago someone made a brick that lasted.

Maybe it was more expensive than the bricks that dissolved?

You’ve seen substandard brick? Soft.

The next time you walk past a building made of brick, take a moment for basic appreciation.

Someone knew the correct recipe for good bricks.

A builder took them to the job site and followed a plan.

You see, architecture is more than dumping a bunch of material in one place.

It’s footings and foundations and brick and glass.

Take a look at that brick. Is it rough? Smooth? Sharp edges? Fine grained?

Think about that bricklayer’s work. Everything level, even, just right?

Give the old brick a thought next time you decide to build something.

Do it justice with everything level, even, and just right.

What else can you think of that needs a solid structure?