My grandmother was fond of saying, “I might wear out, but I won’t rust out.”
That was her way of saying that she would keep on keeping on until she could do no more. She would never sit idle. For the last decades of her 80-plus year life, she lived alone in a farm house so far back in the country that people walked toward town to go hunting.
Like so many of her generation, she was resourceful. She was able to use the means at her disposal to meet her situation. She thrived in that simple farm house with wood-burning fireplaces for heat. She made, grew, raised, and re-processed everything she needed for daily life.
Looking back, I draw much inspiration from how simply, yet successfully, she lived. Compared to the typical suburban home owner of today, she lived in poverty with no “modern” conveniences. But she did just fine, thank you very much.
If I could give my students one skill to help them in their lives, I would give them resourcefulness. Resourcefulness would help them when all else fails. Resourcefulness means the difference in, to paraphrase Faulkner, “surviving and prevailing.”
I inherited a lot of my grandmother’s DNA. I have always been resourceful, meaning that I could function with what I had and make do. If I needed something, I could repair a broken one, or in some cases, make it completely. Of course, I am talking about simple things, not the accouterments of today’s techno-society. I am not smart enough to build the tools of a Web 2.0 world.
But I have built houses, restored antique automobiles, fixed what needed fixing around the house, and in general, done what I needed or wanted to get done. After my accident and resulting paraplegia, my resourcefulness kicked in big time to help me function in a world full of barriers for a person with a disability.
I believe that resourcefulness begins early. Children learn how to play with things around them. Their fertile imaginations create toys out of everyday objects. It makes me sad when we adults thrust upon children a regimentation that shuttles them from one experience to another, from this lesson to that lesson, from this activity to that meeting. Let them go into the back yard and play in the dirt.
That is, if you even have a back yard. Every child should have a back yard with real grass and real dirt. Throw in some scrap lumber, some rope, some nails, and some simple hand tools. You will be amazed at what the little darlings might create. Rather than fritter their time away, they will make something happen, something creative and fun. And, at times, they will demonstrate resourcefulness and make something useful.
Lester, I think you are right on the mark with this. I especially like your advice that children should go “play in the dirt.” I sometimes wish I had made my sons do that more often.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to play with was a box. If my parents got something that came in a box, I was one happy boy. Depending on the size and shape, I could make that box into a fort, a camper (when set atop my wagon), a car or a boat. My parents couldn’t afford the cool headquarters that you could get for your GI Joe, but I could make one out of a box and I did.
Resourcefulness is not one of the critical attributes that comes to mind when we think about the things necessary for success. Thanks for reminding us of it.
Thanks, Robert. When my son Ray, now 33 years old, was a small child, one of the best playthings we ever got him was a load of sand. That’s right — we had a sand and gravel company deliver a dump truck load of sand to our back yard.
Ray and his pal Will played in that sand pile for hours and hours, day after day. They loved it. It was so simple, yet so much fun for the boys. And it was a test bed for their resourcefulness. They created amazing things.
I wish you and I had a sand pile right about now, my Brother.
Les
My friend, you are on target as usual with a critical skill to develop in finding one’s way in today’s world.
We won’t always be able to find the best path by simply inserting a term into Google and searching. For example, the path that is taken by simply using Google to find jobs or searching for jobs on Monster.com is one that hundreds or thousands of others take, too. Anyone doing the same thing increases the number they are competing against greatly. The jobs that are easiest to find are often the most difficult to get, in my opinion.
For students trying to find their way, I am reminded of a path a Towson University student took years ago. He started his own blog about media and over time became an expert that others in the media turned to on the subject. He became well known through his blog and turned his celebrity into a job at the New York Times upon graduation. Now that is resourcefulness!
As Robert Frost once wrote in his poem, The Road Not Taken, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
I must say, I could not agree with you more. Although I have grown up in the day and age where my peers can play a video game better than they can play a sport, that is is something I’m still not completely used to.
Your comment about “playing in the dirt” is ironic to me, seeing as my favorite place to play when I was little was the dirt pile on the construction site of the developing community I lived in. Now-a-days, my favorite toy is a four wheeler (despite the injuries and torn ligaments I’ve aquired from them). Despite the short 40 minute commute from Towson to my home, they are certainly completely different worlds!
I am grateful to have grown up where there is dirt for me to play in. I’m even more grateful when things go wrong and I have a friend who can rebuild an engine, rewire my electric, fix my plumbing, etc. I even have a friend who is a “trash man.” Luckily, my redneck friends have taught me the art of being resourceful!
Send these kids a few miles out of the city when they’re growing up, and I think they’ll be just fine.
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A definite great read..
-Bill-Bartmann
[...] the article, “’Resourceful,’ one of the highest adjectives of praise,” the topic of resourcefulness is the center of focus. The author, Les Potter, believes that [...]