Men in the Making…

January 1, 1970

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As we see a new home, finished, landscaped and lovely, we may forget the process by which it was brought into being. There was dirt to be dug; many materials to be shaped and put in place – and plaster and sawdust and shavings, along with all else. And while it was in the making, we had to have faith: faith in the plan, in the materials, and in the men who made it. We had to believe that it would someday be what it promised to be. This is true of other things also. Paintings and portraits look anything but lovely when the artist first begins to daub. The pottery we see and buy and much admire begins as mud – a special kind of mud to be sure, but mud nevertheless. When we see a boy in childhood or in adolescence, or a boy first learning to play the piano, or a girl first fingering the violin, we have to have faith. The first hesitant notes, the first unsure sounds are not the finished product, but they are the promise of things to come. They are part of the practice and the pain that it takes to arrive at a finished performance. We need to know the ultimate objective and then trust people and principles and proven processes to bring about the ultimate outcome. We have to trust for many things – intelligently – but we have to trust. And we have to overlook the imperfections of many things in the making. We are not perfect, any of us; and we must look like pretty crude clay at times in some of our actions and utterances – and perhaps all of us have reason to criticize all of us in the process of learning to live life. But if a person shows honest and earnest effort and intent, we should be (or try to be), not too quick to judge or criticize or condemn before we see the product farther toward completion.

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