Tools

The tools one uses define who and what they are. Forget all the 4-inch psychology journals – just look at a person’s tools and your brain has all it needs to place that person in their rank of class, sophistication, skills and sociability.

An unusual comparison comes to mind in the song, “If I had a hammer”.

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer out the morning,
I’d hammer out the evening, all over this land
I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning
I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land
(maybe a trades person?)

If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning
I’d ring it in the evening, all over this land
I’d ring out danger, I’d ring out warning
I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land
(perhaps an activist – politician, preacher, teacher)

If I had a song, I’d sing it in the morning,
I’d sing it in the evening, all over this land
I’d sing out danger, I’d sing out a warning
I’d sing out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land
(An entertainer, maybe a compassionate advocate)

Well, I got a hammer and I got a bell
And I got a song to sing all over this land
It’s the “hammer” of justice, it’s the “bell” of freedom
It’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land
– Pete Seeger and Lee Hays

A fine song that makes a point about sociability. Still, if we were to expand the metaphor to include actual tools that each of us use in our daily lives, it would define who we are as a personality and what attitudes and skills we need to sustain daily life.
What tools does the reader use? carpentry? textbook? sharing? parenting?airplanes? medicine? Abuses of personality? Unfortunately, American society has a brutal social class system that misuses this metaphor to discount people because they are ‘different’.
But the song has the right approach: if you had no devices to control survival, if you had no personality, if you had no health, if you had no faith in continuity – you would be dead.

Tools are important identifiers if applied properly, like the song suggests.

Ancient Mariner

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.