Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Ornamental objects are preserved. Practical objects are frayed and discarded. It is easy to confuse the two.

Ever see a coffee pot from the 1940s? Except in old photo collections, I haven’t. Ever see a coffee service made of silver and engraved by a master craftsman? Yes I have. Museums are full of them.

Ornamental objects, like the masterfully engraved silver coffee service, are preserved. Rich folks buy the, set them on the shelf, and have servants routinely dust and polish them. No wonder they last forever. No one uses them.

The basic coffee pot is different. Plain old folks buy them and use them everyday until they are frayed and exhausted. They break from usage and are discarded and replaced. Folks use them all the time.

Sometimes, it is easy to forget why some things from the past are still with us and some are gone. Some things from the past are still with us because no one ever used them. They were made to admire, not use. Things made to use…well, they are gone and usually forgotten.

One day, some of us awaken, see something still with us, and mistakenly decide that since it is still with us we should emulate and use it. Hmm. Is it still here because it is useful or the opposite?

Let’s think about that. Let’s think more about just about everything. Think. Decide. Act. In that order. Let’s not be confused. We can do better.