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When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail. - Abraham Maslow

I encountered this quote in a book by Neil Postman many years ago and began using it while teaching my grade twelves literary theory. It helped my students to understand how the tools we have affect our perception of the world, and specifically, how having a variety of tools with which to analyse literature opens up new possibilities for seeing each piece. I also spoke to them of how each tool is designed for a specific task. One must understand the strengths and limitations of each tool in one's kit to be able to choose the best tool for the job.

I grew up surrounded by tools. My father was a general contractor who performed small renovations in people's homes. This meant that he did carpentry, electrical, drywall, tiling, plumbing, and gasfitting. And that was just before lunch. Our garage was an array of pegboard and shelving, with each chisel, saw and clamp in its place. His longbox Dodge van was also decked out with hand-built shelves bursting with wooden boxes, each bristling with wrenches, squares, levels and other glinting devices of purpose mysterious. During my teen years he often impressed me into service digging postholes or lugging dusty bags of grout. I learned about the right tool for the job from a man who eschewed crescent wrenches and multi-drivers. When he was on his back in a damp crawlspace and needed his green handled robertson, there was no time for such things.

I am reminded of "Digging" by the Irish bard Seamus Heaney. shovel

Under my window a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down...

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade,
Just like his old man.

Heaney laments having "no spade to follow men like them," resigning himself to dig with his pen. He a pen, and I a keyboard. I'll dig with it.

Nick Smith's E-Portfolio

When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail. - Abraham Maslow