Well, Well...Technology

A True Narrative on Perspective in Technology!

INTRODUCTION: It's sometimes funny how things change, especially ones PERSPECTIVE! Years back in my youthful zeal I somehow came into an opinion that technology was one of those on rushing powers I did not want to have mastery over me, so my wife and I decided to move as far away from the modern world as we could. If one were to put his finger in the center of a South American map, that is where we moved to. There we lived, without cities, without electricity, not one paved road, no phones for three hundred miles: no running water, no stores, no radio or TV's, no cars, no refrigerators, no beeps, bells, horns or news, just nothing and us! So there in this far away jungle environment, free from what we thought to be technologies invasion we set up our new life. And it was not to long before an entirely new perspective began to creep into our distant existence and so this narrative begins....

WHILE living in the great Brazilian Motto (forest) and after clearing our land we began to build a meager home, but the first thing needed was to dig a well. My wife and I spent several days digging our first well, by hand of course, and when the well shaft itself was finally dug, a Well Box was needed over its opening. This well box would serve to bring water to the top in buckets, by rope, tied on a cross piece which would be cranked around by a handle at the end. The box could be shut tight so that no bugs, frogs, lizards, snakes or any of the other hundreds of creeping crawling things could fall into the water and get it dirty.

I personally did not have the proper tools or knowledge on how exactly to do all this and thought to hire a local carpenter to come by and build it and I would learn how it was done. Besides, in my flight from technology, I had only brought power tools and now we were without power…Huh!

Our one Brazilian neighbor had a carpenter cousin so I asked him to send him and his crew out as soon as possible. A few days later a tall lanky man came walking up our dirt path, wearing the typical straw hat, shorts, sandals and a very warm smile and I wondered who this guy was, it surely wasn't the carpenter, for he had no pickup loaded with compressors or tools and was not even carrying a tool box.

He soon greeted me with his friendly jesters, telling me in Portuguese that he was Sylvester the carpenter. I sarcastically asked him for a business card and where his tools were but he just proudly pointed to himself and then padded his side and back pocket, indicating a short saw that hung there and on his other side there was a chisel and hammer with a small square stuck in his back pocket. I laughed to myself, who is this guy trying to fool, what kind of a carpenter can he possibly be with only a few tools hanging on his side? I was sure that in my limited language I misunderstood him and that soon his crew and truck would arrive. Ironically, without knowing it I was already making demands on that forbidden technology!

I had a stock of random pieces of wood lying near the well opening and Sylvester soon tossed a few boards aside and nodded at his selection. With grave reservations I let him at least begin measuring through the various lengths of wood. Within several minutes he had laid out a foundation pattern around the well and set up some stumps to work on. Then he began to measure and cut what seemed to be the pieces that would make up the actual well box. Within a short time this portion of the project was completed and then he walked into my fields, searching among the piles of fallen trees. He looked for specific types of wood, hardwood for poles, soft for dowels and another type for handle and crank. He then returned carrying all the odd woods and meticulously cut four corner posts. Somehow, he first cut an arrangement of evenly spaced lines with his short stubby saw, and then chiseled out various grooves to create a secure base for the four sides of the well box.

Like a skilled surgeon his saw cut several deeper notches here and there, but I did not know what they were for, but would find out later. I was called away by my wife to help her catch our wayward mule and when I returned I was surprised to already see that the well box was securely fitted together in all its notches and he was fitting a slide lid into the earlier grooves. He also had a small hand crank drill by which holes were bored through the corner boards, had carved a handful of wedge shaped dowels from the special scraps and was now delicately tapping them tightly into the perfectly placed holes.

As the box took form I now realized that I was watching a very fine craftsman in the simplest form, an artist in his own right. I fought the idea that technology in its crudest form (hammer chisel and saw) was assisting me in the building of my refuge to escape from advancement. No doubt, the box was a very simple device, it was the notched posts and cross bar and crank handle that really opened my eyes to simple beauty in skill and to brilliant imagination. With the least of hand tools this lanky native artisan notched out exact grooves, cut away and exposed square raised edges which puzzled, locked and fit perfectly into pre cut notches. When this upper portion was finished, I stood there extremely impressed and more than surprised at its strong design, its ingenious engineering, how it all fit together and especially what it was going to do for us!

The jungle wilderness carpenter put the final touches on each of the well boxes individual parts, secured everything with finely carved dowels and added a few nails. He then waxed and slid the lid on, tied our bucket onto the cross beam, cranked it up and secured everything in its place. He then motioned for me to drop the bucket and draw out our first bucket of water from our new well. The bucket fell away into the twenty five foot shaft and splashed into the water. I waited until the bucket sank and filled, then with very little effort, cranked the handle around and around, until a clear cool bucket of water rose up out of the earth to the top and I pulled it over and let it rest on the lid. It was amazing on how well it all worked, so simple and oh yes, so convenient…what a way to go!

While we stood there conversing over this wooden masterpiece my happy wife made some tea from the fresh drawn water. I then paid the great engineer his fee {$15.00} and we shook hands, and I indicated my sincere pleasure in his craftsmanship with the international "OK" sign. Sylvester the carpenter placed his few tools back into his belt and pockets, hung the saw from his belt and slowly disappeared like an aberration down the dusty road.

Now every time I think of that simple "WELL BOX" I marvel at that amazing ingenuity and how this Peasant Technician taught me a lesson in the simple application of technology. Imagine all this new perspective had been placed into me for only Fifteen Dollars! My opinions of technology slowly took on a new view and I realized that technology could be a very useful means to better ones life.

Technology has always existed in one form or another and will continue to exists, and like it or not it will also continue to advance.

We must learn to keep a perspective on all tools for our common good and be sure we fully understand their advantages. Technology will develop so far beyond what we might presently know, that our skills of today will be made to be as that peasant carpenter, and with most of our present day technology we are already Cave Men! Yet, we can only hope that the engineers of such advance will always keep in mind the basic skills of the common and ordinary minds.

So today I sit here in front of my totally obsolete 166 MMX-XXX-?.. {Don't really know} computer…Huh, using old out dated technology, building another "well box" with "key strokes" hoping to bring some refreshing water to the reader of this narrative. Helping in my own way to keep useful technology in perspective, not letting it blind us to simple skills with its over whelming intimidation's of great demands but at the same time appreciating its contribution to our needs and personal fulfillment's.

May our future engineers not forget how to keep the future simple enough, as to allow others to partake in its full benefits, thus through and with Technology granting all humanity the privilege of acceptable contributions of worthwhile advancements…until something better TAKES OVER!

Contact Author at:

michael@ticktalk.net

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