MARVELING AT THE LITTLE THINGS

As I was walking this morning, I had a surge of happiness. It never ceases to amaze me at how wonderful our world and life can truly be. We are such a smart and inventive people. I won't discuss putting a man on the moon since that has almost become a cliche -- wow! we put a man on the moon. While I am not negating the importance or crazy accomplishment of that feat, it is not the only thing we can be proud of. We can be proud of and talk about so many other things - so many huge accomplishments. Actually, I personally believe that even what some would consider small accomplishments are something to marvel.

A few weeks ago my neighbor was having some work done on her house. We live in a cul-de-sac - this neighbor lives directly across from me so I was able to watch all the activity. She ordered two replacement columns for her front porch. The original two had dry rot damage and needed to be replaced. I did not see the truck arrive so I missed the beginning of the process and by the time I realized the columns had arrived, the forklift carrying them was already in motion. The driver was manuevering around in order to place them on the floor of my neighbor's garage. I watched with some amazement as it appeared he was doing his job with little effort. He gently placed the columns on the ground but was unable to push them entirely into the garage (there was some other stuff in the way). Once the obstacle was removed, he continued placing the items in the right place in order for my neighbor's contractor to be able to do his work. When the driver was finished with this, he proceeded to place the forklift back where it came from. He drove the forklift across the street and parked it directly behind the big truck (which carried the materials the driver was delivering). He then went to the bed of the truck and started pushing buttons. Some arms came out from the big truck and grabbed hold of the forklift. These arms then lifted the forklift off the ground and pulled the small piece of equipment close to its bumper. One could hear a few clicks and clangs while the connections were made between big truck and little forklift. After approximately 5 minutes, the process was complete and the forklift was fully secured in place. The driver then got into the truck and pulled away. Job complete!

It may sound odd but this whole process totally intrigued me. I stood in wonder at how easily one person was able to accomplish this task. The columns were 7 x 7 and 10 feet tall. I can only imagine how heavy they were. The driver was delivering two huge, heavy and cumbersome columns at the same time, he was alone, he was working an invaluable piece of equipment, he did all this with ease.

Isn't it incredible that we are able to accomplish these types of tasks? We are able to create and build and do and be! This particular task only needed one person to get it done. The two machines he needed to do the job - the truck and the forklift - both came in very handy and enabled him to deliver a product to the customer of the company with little effort.

I am often intrigued by what we have invented and I am eager to see what we'll invent in the future. There is so much possibility!