
Head gasket on a four cylinder engine block
Skills either evolve to match the reality we’re in, or the reality we create for ourselves eventually evolves to match the skills we have, although sometimes it moves so fast they can get out of sync.
Replacing a head gasket is one of those car repairs that, to a mechanic, is not difficult, but is beyond the basic skills of the casual, do it yourself tune-up mechanics. It’s harder than it looks to get it right.
In days gone by, back when cars were simpler, many people attempted repairs like this. Many knew how our cars functioned and were intrigued by them. Nowadays it’s more of a magic box taken for granted as a means to take us from place to place.
Music used to be communal. We either sat around and listed together, or we created together, all in one physical space. Nowadays we hit a share button. Many of the nuances and much of the knowledge is lost to automatically generated, style based, motifs. As mere listeners we are often spoon fed what we want based on a combination of what we already have, and some other mysterious factors we know little about.
We lived through a generation where computers were the thing to understand. That’s all gone now, too. It’s just a box that let’s us download music, shop, send e-mail, get our 15 minutes of attention on Facebook, or look for porn.
The depth of understanding is gone. People today get from A to Z and don’t really look at anything in the middle. Look at the bizarre spelling and word use errors so frequent in today’s communication. There is no depth of understanding. We’re skimming along the surface.
Kids graduate and come to me looking for a job. It’s amazing to me the crap they have been fed in school. They don’t know how to do much, but think they’re entitled to a good life because they showed up and asked for it.
Where does it stop? The key is that we (parents mostly) need to instill the value of initiative. Initiative is a characteristic that has people want to seek out knowledge, and want to work to create something worthwhile. I must be careful here to be clear that someone wanting to achieve “success” may have some initiative, but that’s not what I’m referring to. ‘Want’ isn’t enough and ‘success’ isn’t really the best goal. I am referring to the initiative to grapple with and understand the mechanics or depth of something for the mere sake of it unto itself.
How does one replace a head gasket? How does one add a hard drive or a faster CPU to a computer? What does it mean to write in the proper way to convey meaning or elicit emotion? What can I understand about music and art that will make the experience of it more fulfilling? What can I learn about how people tick that will make me an effective leader?
Resolving these kinds of questions requires a depth of thought that is not being instilled anymore because what little culture of initiative there is exists all around the end result rather than the value and beauty of the work/knowledge it takes to get there.
Parents, rather than have the kids do more, work faster, get involved in more things, consider the value of having them experience things deeply. To learn to really think about things, to fully grasp the experience of creating their piece of art and see it all the way through, whatever it is. That’s a start.
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