“That the future may learn from the past.” Such is the motto of Colonial Williamsburg—a favorite haunt of our family for years. We just spent a lovely weekend there, and once again what most struck me is the astounding reality of the human hand.
It is the common thread of all the trades there. From the forge of the blacksmith, to the loom of the weaver; from the desk of the tailor, silversmith, or shoemaker to the shop of the wheelwright, cooper, or joiner: we cannot but look with awe at the hands of these men and women—even when they’re not using them for their trade. We stand in amazement at what those hands can do, and the obvious pleasure it brings with it.
Sure, it would be easy to idealize this work, ignoring, among other things, the aspect of genuine toil. Yet I think it worth stopping and reflecting upon something too seldom considered today: the extent to which as a society we have moved away from cultivating the skilled use of our hands.
John Ruskin (late 19th century, England) wrote that the human hand “is the most perfect agent of material power existing in the universe.” This dovetails with Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas’s thought that the human hand is the instrument naturally fitted for human reason. Wendell Berry writes, “The body characterizes everything it touches. What it makes it traces over with the marks of its pulses and breathings, its excitements, hesitations, flaws, and mistakes. On its good work, it leaves the marks of skill, care, and love persisting through the hesitations, flaws, and mistakes. And to those of us who love and honor the life of the body in this world, these marks are precious things, necessities of life….”
There always have been, and should be, forms of work that transcend manual skill. A proper appreciation of hand-labor must understand it in the larger context of human excellences and flourishing. That said, I think we do well to recognize that the general demise of hand-trades marks a significant loss—for all of us.
One might ask whether there is a point to such a reflection; is there in fact anything we can or should do about this situation? Here, it seems to me, we should take an approach that is very important in this, as in many other such areas of contemporary life. We carefully examine the issue or problem so as best to understand it in its causes and consequences. We then take a principled and practical approach that asks what reasonable steps we can take in our current situation.
While excellence in hand arts might only be possible for a few today (though this itself calls for a closer look), one thing we all can do is emphasize competence in hand arts, starting in our homes. Concrete practices will vary from home to home. Gardening, as Xenophon noticed long ago, calls for hand competencies that are at once accessible by most everyone while also deeply fulfilling. Wood work of various kinds and stonework, painting and drawing, sewing and clothes-making, cooking and food-preservation, metal work and smithing, plumbing and electrical work, fence-making and other farm work: there are plenty of possibilities.
We should not be dismayed by the difficulty of doing the trades as done in Williamsburg. Rather, we can focus on something deep within us that is sparked by seeing what these people do. We can take up some basic practices in our own homes and communities that speak to that something within us. And so indeed we can learn from the past, and make a real difference in how we live in the present, and future. ~ ~ ~
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We visited Williamsburg when I was a child. I remember being fascinated by people who could make things “without a factory” as the phrase has remained in my mind from that time.
My husband’s craft was with tools and metal and machines and the thoughtful management of the tasks and craftsmen under his leadership. Without exceptional craftsmanship, the ship that he and his crew and shipmates lived and worked upon would endanger the lives of all on board. They held the lives of every one of their shipmates in their capable minds and highly skilled hands.
Excellence in craftsmanship today often goes unrecognized, but for those who learn and exercise those skills, such skill is known to be essential to the quality of our common life.
(A shout-out to the excellent mechanics who keep my car running safely!)
Times may have changed, but there are many, still, whose life work demands skilled hands and minds and exceptional craftsmanship.
Amen, Ellen. And it would be really great for us to notice and affirm such craftsmanship wherever it can be found!
All of what you write is true. And there is nothing but marveling that should attend when witnessing skills such as these, along with a sense of sadness that as long gone as they may be, they were once in a category of what were taken as normal activities during the times they were practiced. Perhaps even to a degree taken for granted. But it is maybe even a bit worse. There are still things done which require skills and use of one’s hands that a larger number of people used to do not that long ago but which fewer people are capable of today. No statistics to back it up, but one of the activities of growing boys was tinkering with automobiles in the garage, especially one’s first car. My father-in-law and his sons could take apart an engine, fix it and put it back together again. No more of that. I hardly knew any man who could not fix a plumbing problem, put new wiring in a house, remodel a room from studs to finished walls. Are the number of men doing those things the same as fifty years ago? Is the garage or the basement workshop still the repair shop for just about anything that needed repairing that it once was? I wonder. How many women today compared to fifty years ago still use a sewing machine to not only create anew, but to fix clothing and other household items needing fixing? Do we know the different cuts of meat and how best to prepare them as we once did shopping at the local butcher shop compared to what’s on sale at the supermarket? Are evening dinners prepared from start to finish from scratch and not taken out of a box?
Of course there are still lots of people who still do all of the above. My point is I think (but don’t know for sure), there are just significantly fewer of them. Skillset loss perhaps continues along with greater estrangement from the real world and the latter maybe the greater loss.
Your reflections, Bob, are very much to the point. Thank you for expressing this. I think a key at this point is to do all that we can to encourage our young people in this direction, AND to offer them contexts that facilitate their developing these skills. It really does make a difference.
It grieves me (though not in a literal sense) that so many people have lost these skills and how I am so attached to cultivating them! AI driven machines may be able to do a piece of work better than a human, but what is the human to do with idle hands? And will not the emptying of hands bring an emptying out of heart and life? What will humans live for if not to craft and build, to mend and heal, with their hands?
I hear you, Jedidiah! And, thank God, at least key aspects of preserving these kinds of work are in ‘our hands!’
How timely a post John, as it’s kidding season here at the homestead in eastern Ct!Last night one of our two pregnant yearlings went into labor. Although they instinctively know what to do, it still takes( Cindy’s motherly hands) to help a new momma Goat deliver a BIG Buck when she can’t properly pass him through the birth canal without that pair of helping hands.
How exciting! What a great use of human hands. Blessings on this season for you, Teddy.
My late husband, an Air Force colonel, was a model railroader, He built models (not the brass engines but the car consist) from scratch and, perfectionist that he was, won first place in every competition. But it was not for awards that he spent all those hours after duty, but love for the craft. Meanwhile, I was knitting and sewing and weaving…
Wow; it is wonderful simply to hear of such craftsmanship.