This is just a random series of observations that may or not make much sense, but here goes:

Today I went to my office to polish the brass handrail up my front steps to the front door. I have been doing a lot of remodeling, new carpet, cleanup-fixup, general updating of the decor at my office. I noticed last week that the brass handrail had tarnished and needed to be polished. I told Jayne that I was going to run to the office and polish this rail and I would be back in a jiffy. Well, I got out the brasso, some cloth and began what I assumed would be a very quick and straightforward job.

I started polishing and after about ten minutes I could hardly see that I had accomplished anything. I rubbed harder, and tried to think of any alternative methods that would help me accomplish my goal at a much faster pace. Nothing helped. I just had to keep polishing.

I started thinking about brass polishing and the people who do it. Military folks came to mind right away. They polish brass a lot. Sailors polish brass on the ship, soldiers and all servicemen polish their brass buttons on their uniforms and they need to be bright and shiny for inspection. I suspect that brass polishing is a discipline to be learned in the military. It essentially shows the young recruit, "you must do this, and do it until it is right. There are no short cuts, just hard work will accomplish the goal."   Probably an excellent object lesson for us all.

I continued polishing the brass and I thought, "butlers and domestics polish brass also, or once did on a regular basis." I have been to cities like Savannah and Charleston and seen the domestic folks polishing door knockers and kick plates and lanterns in the old colonial mansions. The brass would just shine. I started to make a bit of headway with the brass, there was a glint of yellow showing through in places but I gotta tell you I was very tired from the polishing. I kept thinking "there must be a better way or an easier way of doing this." and "You know, I could hire someone to polish this for me, and pay for their hours of work with a few minutes of extra dentistry." "I can hardly afford to do this myself, it would be a much better idea to delegate this job."   But I kept polishing.

I then thought of the other jobs that I no longer do for myself. I have a fellow who comes and cleans my gutters and I write him a check. Another guy mows my grass and I do his family's dentistry in trade. I have 7 people who work for me doing jobs that I could do myself really but it is more effecient for me to have assistants, receptionists, secretaries, hygienists, lab technicians so that I can utilize my time more wisely. I have someone change my oil, wash my car, paint my house, fix my plumbing... I kept polishing. I started thinking about how nice it is for me to not have to do all these other things; that I can afford to pay folks to make my life easier. I continued with the brasso and by now, black rag, having tarnish to both wrists. I got a phone call on my cell phone that Jayne was ready for me to come pick her up and we were going to pick up my grandson for the afternoon, so I stopped polishing, cleaned up my work area and stepped back to observe what my hour had accomplished.

I figure that I will have another 3 hours until this brass glistens. I am going to do it...myself. I am also going to polish this brass as long as I continue to practice. I need to do this to keep me in touch with just how hard it is to work at most jobs. It is too easy for us to get insulated from those things we delegate to truly appreciate how hard people have to work to earn a living. I have learned a lot from the brass.