Facing Our Fears
I have a healthy respect for power tools. Well…maybe it borderlines on fear. I still get a little nervous when I flip on my table saw or router. I can’t even explain why that is. I’ve never had a serious accident with power tools, so my respect/fear must be working.
I ran across this column by Burt Prelutsky on Townhall.com. In it, he gives a rather humorous account of his fear of changing tires, heights, and “tools with moving parts.” He recalls:
“In the seventh grade, I was required to take woodshop at John Burroughs Junior High. In order to make a bookend, it was necessary to employ a band saw. This, in case your life has been one long strawberry festival and you’ve been spared being introduced to this Satanic device, is an electric blade around which you manipulate the piece of wood you’re sawing. In case you still don’t get the picture, your hands are in extremely close proximity to this totally malevolent moving blade.
“If you’re still wondering why I have this terrible dread of electrical tools, it’s probably because I neglected to mention that our instructor, Mr. Bailey, was nicknamed ‘Fingers Bailey,’ and it wasn’t because he had more digits than your average Homo sapien, but because, all told, he only had four, maybe four-and-a-half of them left.”
He goes on to talk about how he has learned to avoid his fears and the fact that he hasn’t touched a band saw in fifty years.
That’s too bad. What contribution might such a creative talent made to the world of woodworking? One can only imagine…