Stabbed myself with a screwdriver at work the other day. Hurt like hell. It’s better now – well, getting better anyway, that’s what a week of antibiotic cream is for.
How?
Renovation season, that’s how. Fixing up the store, moving fixtures. I work in a downtown location, so we have theft issues. As such, we secure just about everything. Recoilers, alarms, chain locks – you name it, we use it, all in an attempt to make sure nothing walks out of the store unaccounted for. One of these many wonderful tools – and the specific one which owns my wrath at the moment – is best described as a spring patch. Basically, a coil of steel wire secured to a shelf, which secures, on its other end, to whatever it is we need kept in place by means of a two-inch by one-inch pad of 3m double-sided sticky material. It’s better than tape. It’s better than glue. There’s no residue, no marks. Once secured, if left to dry, this eight-inch thick pad becomes nearly impossible to remove, it’s like cement.
Normally, we use a special tool for this. Wonderful piece of wire to shear between the 3m go and whatever it’s attached to. I couldn’t find it so, in my stupidity, I used a flat-head screwdriver to lever under the pad and try to get it off. Naturally, because it was the one time I’ve done this in this manner, off comes the pad, zip goes the screwdriver, and I’ve got a three millimetre wide hole and a six millimetre deep puncture in my left hand, where my thumb meets my hand. You know the place – right in the middle of the joint.
Yes. It stung. Yes. My hand is totally useless for now. Why do I say this taught me a few lessons? Well, you asked for it.
I’m not ambidextrous. Far from; I’m a bit of a klutz. As much as I have an obsession with hand-eye coordination, I can barely do anything with my left hand. But as I’ve been struggling through the day, after this tiny injury, I’m amazed at how difficult it is to get through things, missing a piece of routine that I had, until now, considered inconsequential. Apparently, I use my left hand a lot – turning on lights, carrying things, grasping. Because there’s such a difference in ability, I think of my right hand as the only usable one.
The point? I’m thinking a lot now about those skills, resources and networks we take for granted. What would happen to your routine if someone took away Facebook? Or Twitter? Or LinkedIn? You’d notice – it’s like your right hand getting taped up. But if someone took away Disq.us for a week? Or bit.ly? What would you do then? You’d find a way around it, for sure, but h much would you actually notice?
We derive so much value from the scaffolding that our “lesser used” utilities provide. Much of what we consider our major skills are backed up by ancillary, far less glorious skills. It becomes mental furniture; without it, we’re sitting on the floor, twiddling our thumbs in discomfort, but how much credence do we give these foundations when they’re not standing up and getting noticed?
Perhaps it’s time to inventory our tools. Take ownership of our internal networks. Who knows? You may find a latent talent lurking under your usual exterior, the way Superman’s uniform always hides under his suit.
I, for one, welcome the insight. Even if I’ll never wear red and blue tights.
Photo by JesusPresley
About This Post's Author - Ian
Hi! I'm Ian. I'm an online marketing specialist with Modern Earth Web Design. When I'm not working, spending time with my family, or puttering about in various spaces online, I write here, as well as at Thoughtwrestling and Unspeakable Media.This is my blog.
I broke my right hand last year and was completely overwhelmed by a) how much I must use my left hand in everyday life and b) how utterly useless and uncoordinated my left hand actually is! Get well soon!
It's amazing how these things can bring on shifts in awareness! The
wound's getting better, thankfully faster than a broken arm would!
Thanks for stopping in!
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Boy, if I'd had that screwdriver, I might not have had the opportunity to learn anything by breaking into my own car.
Yes, it is quite interesting to see how we handle life's little catastrophes. There are times that I've tried to teach my left hand to do skills. I can actually sort of write (messily) with my left hand and, oddly enough, I never seem to get any worse at writing that way.
Good post.
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Opportunities for discovery are less rare than we think, aren't they? You caught it right – the break-into-my-car story you did was certainly a factor in the shape of this one. I think yours was the more harrowing, though. I give myself minor wounds all the time.
I broke my right hand last year and was completely overwhelmed by a) how much I must use my left hand in everyday life and b) how utterly useless and uncoordinated my left hand actually is! Get well soon!
I broke my right hand last year and was completely overwhelmed by a) how much I must use my left hand in everyday life and b) how utterly useless and uncoordinated my left hand actually is! Get well soon!
It's amazing how these things can bring on shifts in awareness! The
wound's getting better, thankfully faster than a broken arm would!
Thanks for stopping in!
It's amazing how these things can bring on shifts in awareness! The
wound's getting better, thankfully faster than a broken arm would!
Thanks for stopping in!
Boy, if I'd had that screwdriver, I might not have had the opportunity to learn anything by breaking into my own car.
Yes, it is quite interesting to see how we handle life's little catastrophes. There are times that I've tried to teach my left hand to do skills. I can actually sort of write (messily) with my left hand and, oddly enough, I never seem to get any worse at writing that way.
Good post.
Boy, if I'd had that screwdriver, I might not have had the opportunity to learn anything by breaking into my own car.
Yes, it is quite interesting to see how we handle life's little catastrophes. There are times that I've tried to teach my left hand to do skills. I can actually sort of write (messily) with my left hand and, oddly enough, I never seem to get any worse at writing that way.
Good post.
Opportunities for discovery are less rare than we think, aren't they? You caught it right – the break-into-my-car story you did was certainly a factor in the shape of this one. I think yours was the more harrowing, though. I give myself minor wounds all the time.
Opportunities for discovery are less rare than we think, aren't they? You caught it right – the break-into-my-car story you did was certainly a factor in the shape of this one. I think yours was the more harrowing, though. I give myself minor wounds all the time.
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This is cool! And so interested! Are u have more posts like this? Plese tell me, thanks