When I was still in this, there was this young man that could fix anything with wires, a soldering iron, and whatever engine oil was left in the tin behind the generator store. Before we call the experts then, we call him first just to be certain because the way we see him is that most of the things that had died in our compound then, once he goes there with his equipment, one way or the other, he brings them back to life and gets them to start working again. I cannot just start naming a lot of things he repaired.
And I used that opportunity to learn one or two from him. And when I asked him if he had gone anywhere to learn all these, his response was no. But how he knew how to repair an inverter, rewire a pump, and put the entire system together by his own private logic that worked even when it shouldn't have.
At some point, he went ahead to open a not to big shop. He never patented a single fix, just like a lot of people usually do around here. All the brilliant contributions he made by fixing a lot of things around quietly disappeared the moment that problem did, because the next day always comes with a brand new emergency demanding that smart, fierce attention that last one had.
My opinion all the time was that that was his nature, because he was too humble to commercialize his own genius; he wouldn't even ask for money, and if you offered him, he wouldn't accept it. I think now it was something else entirely. He was not given the luxury that it takes for an invention to come alive or require, because it requires a time alone that no one will be able to disturb so that he can follow up his idea all the way past the point where it merely works.
And that is exactly what keeps coming back when some people think that lack and conflict are the things that stop humanity from moving forward. Yes, at some point, hardship can make people search for a quick solution. And that is one of the reasons why those in a different situation, one way or another, always come up with amazing ways to find a solution to the problem they are in.
But in most cases, those solutions don't go above the current problem. They will never open another door to another creative solution that will last longer. Because you will never build something that lasts longer for generations when you are battling one crisis after another, there won't be that energy to build.
I don't believe that if people lived comfortable and peaceful lives, they would become lazy. What I feel is that they will only have a different way and viewpoint to things. There might be just a small problem solution for them, but they will definitely have enough time to think deeper, do more experiments, and come up with a new idea. Because as humans, we tend to ask all sorts of questions when we are trying to survive, "what if...what if..." And such a type of curiosity is what most times leads to new innovation.
Thank you for reading.
Images created by Gemini AI
