Making Stuff

June 4, 2020

Graduating high school seniors get inundated with advice from well-meaning adults, who fling random bits of wisdom in students' direction, hoping some sticks. My senior-year English teacher back in the day seized the opportunity, too, and fortunately he actually said something useful:

"Whatever you're doing, think about this: Are you putting value into the world, or sucking value out of it? You need to make sure at the end of the day that you've crammed more in than you've taken out. So get out there and make stuff."

Mr. Marcus's words turned out to be the perfect phrase for evaluating... well, everything, both the big picture and small improvements. During COVID-19, many of us have been baking, making art, or completing home projects. On Sunday my family jumped on that same bandwagon: A pile of rods and screws and fabric grew into a screened canopy for our porch, and at the end of our day, there was a little more value in our corner of the world.

Our communities need builders, especially now, and it's our job as parents to help our kids recognize how even small improvement affects others, whether we build with our hands or our brains. Even a 4-year-old can learn to pick up trash while on a walk, and as soon as they pick up the phone to call Grandma, they've made the world a better place. We can make screened porches, sure, but we can also make connections. And by helping our kids see their actions as a way to add value to the world, it can motivate them to go out and build stuff on their own initiative. If you're in a position to help rebuild the parts of our world that have been crumbling, your kids will be paying attention.

So get out there and make stuff, please. You need to do it, the world needs you to do it, and your kids need to watch how it's done. Thanks.