The Bolt

I was chatting online last summer (2005) with my friend Erik from Belgium, and I was telling him about the two hardwood tables that I had made. These tables were designed and built by me from scratch using tools in my own garage, out of walnut and ash. I was (and still am) quite proud of these tables, and I'm still happy to show others what I managed to build. Yes, the picture in this article is indeed one of those tables.

The reason that I'm so excited about these two tables is that I am not a woodworker, nor do I have any special training in woodwoorking (let alone furniture making). I also didn't take any existing plans for these tables - I just made them up by drawing what I wanted to make and then building it. There is something very rewarding in creating something uniquely beautiful all by yourself.

Erik remarked to me that he thought I had quite a skill in woodworking, and this actually surprised him, because up until then he really only knew me as a computer programmer. I replied that I had a lot of skills, and that he shouldn't be too surprised, since I considered myself quite a multi-talented person. (Sadly, I must admit, pride was starting to turn into arrogance there) The properly stuffy term for this is a polymath.

Erik simply replied, "Todd, we're all complicated. We are all more than we seem." That little statement was a quite a bit more profound than Erik likely realised at the time.

It was a few months later that I found myself reading "Mother Night" by Kurt Vonnegut on the recommendation of a co-worker, and part way through this book I came across a wonderfully insightful quotation (that I now see is quite famous): "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

We all have multiple, complex facets of ourselves. It's up to us which of them we show to others.