Lsp802-down to the wood

Independently Speaking

Publication Date 7-17-08

We were talking about remodeling. It’s pretty much all I talk about anymore. I have a lot of remodeling stories and this time I was telling the story about when we last painted our house.

We have a big, old farmhouse. It’s been painted a dozen times or more over the past century and about a decade ago we’d reached the point that it started to peel and look nasty within a couple years of having a new coat of paint slapped on. So, we spent the better part of a summer with heat guns and scrapers going down to the bare wood.

It wasn’t so much fun. At one point my youngest child and I were up on top of some scaffolding on a hot July day. Heat waves were shimmering off the side of the house and the smell of burning paint filled the air. My daughter looked at me and said, “Daddy, this sucks.”

I took a moment to think of something inspirational to say. I mean, I’m a dad; inspirational is my job. Sweat was pouring off my bald head into my eyes, I’d burned my wrist on the nozzle of the heat gun and I was hungry, thirsty, and fed up. In terms of inspiration, all I could come up with was, “Yeah, it does.”

When I told the story, everyone laughed and then my sister said, “Sometimes you have to go down to the wood.”

She was right – we painted ten years ago and it still looks good. That long summer was full of hard, unpleasant work, but it laid the foundation for something lasting and solid.

Sometimes the metaphors just leap out at you. This seems like a summer to start getting right down to the wood. We’re in the midst of a war, the economy is on the ropes, the list of subjects that can be used to start an argument – ranging from gay marriage to global warming - has never been longer. Maybe we should all just take a deep breath, step back, and then start doing the hard, unpleasant work needed to get a solid foundation for whatever we want to do next.

As a country, we’ve been putzing around for quite a while now – slapping on a new coat of paint, ignoring the eaves troughs and squabbling about the landscaping - not giving much thought to the future and not seeing much beyond the end of our noses. And the interesting thing is, I think most people know it. I think most people know there’s a need for some hard work and clear thinking and it’s past time to start in. We just need some inspiration.

Of course, the story that started this train of thought didn’t have an inspirational speech. There was just a bald guy on a scaffold with sweat running into his eyes, who couldn’t think of anything to say except the truth.

And maybe that’s what we need from our leaders now – no stirring speech or easy promises - just some sense, some slight inkling that they’re in the same boat as we are, that they know the problems and are willing to get tired and dirty right along with us.

It got a house in pretty good shape – I think it’d work for a country, too.

Copyright 2008 Brent Olson www.independentlyspeaking.com