A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

     Okay, stop right where you are.  Close your eyes.  Now, open your eyes and look straight ahead.  What do you see?  Oh!  I forgot to say that you should choose an area about two feet square... then, tell me what you see.  If you see a blank wall, that's okay, but if you see several things within that two foot square, it works even better.

     Here's the thing: within that small space, have you ever considered how many people contributed to your comfort or interest?  Is there a lamp or a light of some kind?  Ah!  Someone discovered electricity.  Do you know who?  If you answered Ben Franklin, think again.  Yes, our friend, Ben, did realize that there was a connection between lightning and electricity, but there's a rumor that the man who actually built the first electric battery was Alessandro Volto.  That battery, it is said, was the real break-through in the discovery of electricity.  hmmmm.  Could it be?  Is there more to this than meets the eye?

     Looking again into your two-foot square, do you happen to notice if someone has painted some portion of it?  This thought made me wonder who invented paint.  So, I went searching.  hmmmm.  I know that Tom Sawyer incorporated the help of his friends to white-wash the fence, but was that the same as painting?  I actually do not think it was... quite, although that's just my opinion.  But if you look back through history, you will find various ways that some form of painting was done by different cultures.  Take, for instance, the Egyptians.  They were the dudes with the sphinxes and the pyramids, right?  There ya' go!  They slapped all kinds of Paint-ey things all over the insides of the pyramids.  Scratched out designs and threw Paint-ish into some of the designs.  Were they painting?  I guess they were, so my earlier opinion just changed.

     As the ages followed and each generation tried something new, improvements were made and today we benefit from many different people and cultures who all contributed in one way or another.  Whoever the Top Dog of paint is today cannot deny the involvement others had before we arrived at the worlds of living color we have available to us, today.

     Moving on, what else do you see?  Is there some kind of paper within your view?  Thank you, Ts'ai-Lun of Lei-Yang in China.  Or, was it the Egyptians and their papyrus?  Man, those dudes really seemed to get around, didn't they?  Wait a minute!  What of this guy, Charles Fenerty, of Halifax?  And where do those two Englishmen come in?  What were their names, again?  Healey and Allen?  Yeah, that's them.  They all played a part in the paper-making process.  Now, I can take my pretty little sticky-note and stick it to my pretty little stationary and put it in my secure envelope without having to remember that I need to make some paper before I can write a letter.

     The point I'm trying to make is that no matter where you choose to look, especially in a city or town, if you take the time to notice, you will have reason to realize that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before.  Every society and every generation builds on what those from the past have contributed.  Even the fields are filled with seeds designed for better yield.  No man is an island and the sooner we realize that, the better our progress will be.

     Ben Franklin did not, alone, discover the benefits of electricity.  It is my firm belief that neither did his predecessor, Alessandro Volto.  If you will notice, a good many ideas come from something that someone else has said or done.  Remember Tabitha Babbitt from yesterday's post?  Great inventor, right?  She didn't do it alone.  She was watching two men from her community when she was struck with an idea and Voila!  Life just got easier.

     So the next time you begin to feel that no one cares about you, take a look around and notice some of the things that make your life easier.  Someone, somewhere must have cared a whole awful lot because my life has all kinds of Easy in it.  How 'bout yours?

     Until tomorrow, keep a hug on.

Yaya

Spinning Wheel or Circular Saw?

     What do a spinning wheel and a saw have in common?  Give up?  Alright, then, have you ever heard of Tabitha Babbitt?  She was a very intelligent lady whom I would love to find in my ancestral line.   Since she was a member of the Shaker Religion, its not likely that I'll be able to trace my roots back to her.  You see, the Shakers believed in celibacy.  So you might say, they actually bred themselves out of existence, although I think the religion has been re-established.

     But that's a story for another day.  Today, I'd like to tell you about Tabitha Babbitt.  Evidently, all the energy she preserved by not having children gave her plenty of time to think.  And think, she did.  In fact, some of the things she thought about have been very beneficial to the world.  For instance, it was dear Tabitha who actually invented the circular saw.

     It is said that she also invented the method for making nails from a rod of iron, although I have had little time to research this and cannot be sure that it is correct.  And when she died, she was supposedly in the process of inventing false teeth.  Could it be?

     The story I first heard about Tabitha's invention of the circular saw was that she was watching two of the men of her community, one on the roof and the other down below, each working one end of a two-man saw.  Realizing that half the motion from such activity was lost, she began to toy with the idea of a round piece of notched metal, instead.  She wrapped the metal around the wheel of her spinning wheel, spun the it and tried it on a shingle. When it worked, she shared her idea.

     That's the way I first heard it.  Is it true?  At least some of it is.  I am still reseaerching, as I find the entire story quite intriguing.  Do you ever feel the need to find out more when faced with stories like this?  This is a very interesting legend, if you ask me.  In fact, off and on, I have searched for this information for several years.  One day, I may just take the time to do some serious investigation.  In the meantime, don't take my word for it.  Why don't you find out for yourself?

     And keep a hug on,
Yaya