Everything Has a Place

My Daddy was a man of very few words and lots of laughter. He giggled at almost everything, especially life’s drama. When we would “have a fit and fall in it,” Papa would just giggle. His IQ was high and his words were few. Perhaps there is wisdom in this. He basically felt that other’s business was none of his. Thus, when Papa coached me about something other than sports, I listened. One of his strongest lessons had to do with orderliness.

Just the other day a young woman was proclaiming all men to be babies who throw their clothes around and generally leave messes everywhere. I simply had to share with her the experience of my Daddy. Papa folded his own laundry and put it neatly in his dresser draw. He always safety pinned his socks together when they were not on his feet. He never put a toilet seat up or left one up. He had a place for everything and believed that everything had a place. “Put things back where you got them,” he would say. A hammer is a hammer only if it can be found and used as such. Otherwise, it’s just rusty junk laying out in the yard.” He would explain to us kids this: “A tool has a place, just like you have your own bed. If you use the hammer put it back to bed, so it can be used again by the next guy. How would you like to be thrown out in the yard to sleep?”

Papa hung all tools in his shop and then drew a shape around them so it would be easy to “put it back where it belonged.” He taught us that no job is done until the mess is cleaned up and everything returned to its’ place.

Papa had an excellent point. To live in community or family, we must learn to share tools and property in a way that all can have access. An orderly house and tool shop is likened to an orderly mind. Clarity of thought is likened to clarity of space. I often suggest to people whose minds are boggled with junk thoughts that they go home and clean out their attics. Get your home in order so you can think straight. Your environment is a reflection of your mind.

I used to have a western town called LITTLE DUDE. It was rental property that allowed people to have pets. I would meet people in their car and if their car was junky, I asked them for five job references and five landlord references. To this day I won’t rent to a person who has a junky car. I know absolutely that they will keep house the very same way.

Papa taught a few other lessons about life through his carpentry philosophy.

“If you’re going to use a wheel barrow, it’s best to turn it the direction that you’ll be going before you fill it up.” Life is so much easier when we keep our minds and houses in order, put things back where we got them, and turn in the direction we want to go before filling up our minds and our space. Each person is a reflection of their thoughts and actions. What we see is what we get.

All things work better where there is a system of arrangement that is known and valued by all. When things are in their place thinking and creation are much easier. Environments are more peaceful. It is possible to have a sense of fulfillment. Let us all become famous for the regularity of our good habits. Let us value all things enough to respect their space and place in our lives.