Attribution: Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper’s attitude throughout his life has been that he could fix most anything using improvised parts, innate dexterity, sharp eyes and resistance to being part of the throw-it-away-and-buy-a-new-one cultural mindset.
So when the bedroom reading lamp developed a switch problem, it was an automatic that the keeper have at it with his closet full of tools and his I-can-fix-it confidence firmly in hand.
Three days later and after two trips to Menards the bedroom lamp is finally back in place, but it is now a one-bulb instead of two-bulb model, the keeper having failed, after hours of trying, to redo the assembly of some diligent worker in a foreign country.
Damage done: a cut index finger, aching back and strained eyes, but far more than the physical harm was the blow-up of the keeper’s credo that he “can fix anything.”
He CAN’T fix anything: He no longer has the vision, the dexterity or the patience to save a cheap lamp from the trash can.
Replacing the “can-fix-anything” credo with “ACCEPT THINGS,” the keeper will be asking Phyllis to accompany him to the store to buy a new lamp.
Photo by Bill Stokes