The Keel

I scarfed together a keel yesterday in a friend's workshop.  I am not a boat builder.  I'm not much of a woodworker.  But I'm normally intelligent and it needed to be done.  Because this particular keel will be formed with expoy glass putty and covered with several layers of fiberglass I knew it wasn't critical that it be perfect.  Just good enough to hold its shape.

I made a perfectly adequate keel.  A few dyslexic cuts had to be compensated for.  A few gaps will need putty.  And it probably took me twice as long as any competent craftsman working in his own shop.  But it's done and I feel great about it.

Have we, in our need for expertise and perfection, taken away from our kids, and ourselves for that matter, this sense of pride in doing something adequately enough?  Sometimes I feel like we channeling our kids towards the one field in which they will excel while denying them the chance to just do something.

I feel good about making that keel even though it's not perfect.  Everyone should have that privilege.