Making Light of Heavy Work: ep. 1

In 2022, six days a week, Cary, Doug (pictured), Miguel, and I would hang 7,000+ parts on the paint line every day. The chair frames we hung were sprayed down with an oil-gasoline mix so they didn't stick together in the shipping boxes.

That oil got on your pants, and because you didn't want to ruin all your pants, you'd keep one or two as your work clothes and leave them hanging on the inside hook of your bathroom door at home.

Every morning around 3:45am, you'd walk into your bathroom and smell that oil, and the smell immediately brought you to some thought: sometimes you'd feel proud of yourself that you were pushing physically and making things, and sometimes you'd feel discouraged that you were "just working a factory job."

Then you'd walk outside and from time to time would remember to look up at the sky. And you'd realize you hadn't thought about the stars for weeks if not months. You had simply forgotten they were there. And now here they were again.

Hanging parts on the paint line was the most gratifying work I've ever done. It didn't pay enough to sustain our mortgage and groceries, but it was a visceral success so often.

There's a book by Matthew B. Crawford that talks about all of this "Shop Class as Soulcraft"- it's worth reading.

In summary though, I just am saying out loud I feel grateful. I've had a wonderful life. The factory was a triumph in so many ways: my ego died there. I got physically strong there. I learned so much about what I didn't know. About how many people are barely making it, and that they are good people, and that they are not crushed.

Life is so hard. But it is our life. We get to live it. What a gift

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