Scaffolding: Who Knew?

Over the last several days I have watched as a construction crew built scaffolding in front of the building across the street from my job. Before now I thought of scaffolding as something simple to make, like a giant Erector Set suddenly appearing usually blocking the sidewalk right where I want to walk. Now I see so much more. A mixture of metal and wood, a good sized scaffolding takes many work hours to build. This one is almost a block long and about four stories tall, taking its builders more than a week to complete. I suspect it a foolish and dangerous move to rush such a project as those who put it together have the lives of the coming construction crew in their hands. So for the sake of safety, taking the time to build scaffolding right is a very important investment.

Having lived and/or worked in major cities most of my life I had come to take scaffolding for granted. I walk right by rarely taking notice of the project at hand, ignoring the effort it takes to maintain and even improve my urban surroundings. Having recently committed to making major changes to my own humble abode, I have become aware of what others are doing in order to improve upon an old building or even to create something new. Granted my projects only involve the use of an "A" shaped ladder, not a block long section of scaffolding but there is still an investment of time: one I hope pays off with something spectacular.

Home improvement is not the only project taking up a lot of my time. Being a husband and a father takes up time that is measured in years, along with a high level of sacrifice. Writing takes quite a time commitment. On my old blog I tried to take shortcuts which in the long run took me places I did not want to go. I'm guessing you also have a list of things that require a commitment of time in order to achieve your best. (Thank you for investing some of your time in reading this post.)

Like scaffolding those around you may take what you build for granted. You may find it difficult to get anyone to notice but not being noticed is better than being known because a shortcut lead to a huge incident. Put in as much time as you need in order to build your own masterpiece. You never know how many people your work might touch. True you may feel like your work simply blends into the background, like the forgotten but greatly significant scaffolding. Keep building. In the end what you do may impact culture in ways we cannot predict today.