The Peddie School motto is Finimus Pariter Renovamusque Labores. We finish our labors to begin them anew. That’s gold, Jerry. Gold. But how many times do we end only to start again? Is it measured in units? Years? I wonder about these things.
TLD™ (my wife, the lovely Deb) is a longtime Joseph Campbell reader. And she (TLD™) says that he (Campbell) says that as you get older you go from a life of achievement to a life of appreciation. Those words have been in conversations here forever.
I love the work I do. I love the finished product a bit less than I love the process. The bicycle I hand to a waiting client represents the best I can do. But that’s all. The process, especially when I begin anew, represents hope. Possibly next level hope.
There’s never been an end in sight, much less in thought bubbles that hover above and to the left of my head. I can’t imagine a last one until that fateful time when there are no tomorrows. Appreciation, for me, is rooted in knowing that there’s always another chance.
In all of order there is disorder. In all of disorder there is order. Somewhere between the beginning (hope) and the end (appreciation) is the where the streets of order and disorder intersect. I live on that very corner and have for all my adult life (so far).
All This By Hand
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