One of my core memories of my maternal grandfather, who was a tinkerer, was how he would always seem to have a project every afternoon, after his short siesta, and he would always be working with his hands and tools, trying to fix something for the first time, jerry rigging a solution for a household problem, or attacking an issue that he had tried to fix before but had returned. That was his routine, and I would see it every time I would stay late after our usual Saturday lunch at their home, or during the summer breaks when his grandkids would have lunch at their house and hang out after.
He had a lot of tools and knick knacks for his little projects, and for a young kid, it was either boring and/or sometimes impressive to see him at work, retired but always busy with different projects that ranged a gamut of interests. However, as I grew into my teenage years, I was glad that I was able to spend time with him as he was hunched over a repair job, either handing him his tools, or giving an awkward hand from time to time. I haven’t really given him enough credit for it, but now that I think about it, that time I spent with him probably had an influence in my decision to take up mechanical engineering in college.
These days, I have my own little projects for my house, but unlike my lolo, such projects are rare, certainly not enough to build a routine on, upon retirement. Perhaps that is because things are no longer repairable these days, and we often have no choice but to throw the broken ones away and buy new ones.
The lack of repairability makes me sad because my kids don’t know how to use tools anymore. In comparison, by the time I was a young adult, I could handle a sharp non-kitchen knife with relative confidence, knew the uses of the different kinds of pliers and tapes (duct, electrical, masking), and the importance of the vice grip, WD-40, and cable ties in any decent toolbox. I had cut or hurt my fingers with a tool countless times and experienced minor electrical shocks. I knew that the best way to clean greasy hands and fingernails was with gasoline.
I have a basic toolbox at home, while my lolo has a toolshed and an entire garage of thingamajigs. The reason for that could be two-fold, probably a combination of the lack of repair projects, but also the dependency on knowing I can just borrow his stuff anytime. But if I had more work to be done, I probably would’ve invested more in tools by now, because always borrowing can be inconvenient.
In contrast, my kids will be young adults soon and I don’t know if they can even change a flat tire by themselves, which won’t be a problem in their world because either they don’t drive anymore, or the cars that they do drive won’t have spare tires anyway. The point here is that young people don’t seem to know how to do repairs anymore in this world where everything is either throwaway or designed to be as convenient as possible.
However, on the flip side, anyone who has a DIY repair project no longer needs the intensive experience to be able to figure out a fix. Because of the internet and YouTube, there is a video out there outlining more or less what can be done to solve most issues. All it takes is having the tools, the guts, and the internet sleuthing skills to find the video. Experience still matters, as most first-time DIY repairs almost always end with more damage done, but that is part of the experience that those of us who are into the hobby go through as we either successfully fix, or conclusively break our stuff.
With nobody seemingly interested in repairing anything anymore, I realize that those of us who want this trait and skill to be passed on will have to make a conscious and deliberate effort to involve others in our little projects on any opportunity to repair something arises. A lot of things may have planned obsolescence built in, or are outright throwaway these days, but for those who are open to the possibility, there are still many minor repairs that can be carried out in our homes. All you need is the right attitude, the willingness to get your hands dirty, and a tolerance for catastrophic failures.
If all else fails, we can always threaten them with the possibility of a zombie apocalypse or a nuclear holocaust, which will create a society where handymen are once again handy.*
