Ramblings on Small, Simple Things
How much do simple things play a part in my life? When did they come into being, filling or improving a need for every day living? Many have been in existence a very long time and we don't even consider when they might have been unavailable.
Lately I've had reason to wonder who was the genius that created a pencil and with it an erasure. Was it meant to replace the goose quill and a bottle of ink? We need erasures in many areas of our lives, not just in the writing of the written words or drawings.
The safety pin...safer, with a better hold that a straight pin, assuming that the straight pin would be the forerunner to the wonderful safety pin. Both have their place, but there is often an absolute must for the clasp of a safety pin so that an injury doesn't result. One reads of encounters from long ago where a hat or hair pin was literally used as a weapon, with harm intended and achieved.
Old-fashioned popcorn poppers---the thin wire basket with a long handle, that required lots of shaking on the top of a cookstove, fueled by coal or wood. What a difference from the bag of kernels now placed in a microwave. The taste doesn't compare, I vote for the past, plus the health involved.
Matches, the old individual wooden stick with a magic flame on the tip. Again, not talking about a handy little packet of cardboard matches, but the kind that probably replaced a flint.
String-- not yarn, simple boring string. When I was a child we always had a ball of string handy, plain old string, cotton strands twisted together that filled many needs. Tying a parcel to mail. Flying a kite, activating a pet toy, drawing an accurate circle, fastening any number of things that needed an anchor, etc. I still have that need, but not the string.
When did a saber become a pocket knife? And from there, a pocket knife became a screw driver, a can opener, etc. all in one small tool?
Rubber bands, a stapler, scissors, thumb tacks, hammers, pliers, sponges. Especially scissors!! Look around, there are small, simple forgotten-until-needed items that help us manage our lives, no matter how modern and up-to-date we may think we are with our phones and computers.
I have no idea when or where these 'inventions' took place. There was a need and a thinking mind improved and made it better. I like recognizing it.
