Windows and Doors –
Writing group assignment for Nov. 2, 2012
Our assignment this time was to write about windows and/ or
doors. The temptation was great to wax
almost poetic and talk about doors as being open channels or closed off
pathways. As for windows, they are for
looking out or looking in and apply just as much to a person's soul as they do
to a building. When spelled with a capital “W”, windows are also for computers, but that is a whole
other category. But I decided not to do
that – I thought I would take a more practical approach and really discuss
doors and windows. No, no one in my
family is employed by Home Depot or Lowe's!
I just wanted to take a very nontraditional approach – nontraditional,
that is, for me.
How did the concept
of doors even begin one has to ask. Did
it begin long ago as our cavemen forefathers and foremothers hunkered down
over a fire, listening to the screams of a saber tooth tiger outside the cave –
and praying the hole in the front of the cave was too small for it to fit
through? I would love to know who first
thought of rolling a huge rock in front of the cave entrance, and if when it
was in place he considered how hard it was going to be to move it out of the
way again! Perhaps, he was more of a Tim
the tool man kind of guy and thought about dragging some big branches home with
him and sticking those across the hole of the cave. Lighter and easier to move, they may not be as
sturdy as the rock, but they have the decided advantage of having holes between
them that the cavemen could peek through.
Ah ha! I think that's how the
very first concept of windows came about.
As time went on and mankind grew in knowledge and, most importantly, in tools'
skills, I'm sure doors and windows became refined. Instead of a bunch of sticks loosely strewn
across the doorway of a hut or hovel, some genius thought of cutting trees to
the size of the entryway and somehow attaching them together. I bet the man who first came up with the idea
of a hinge was looked upon as a genius in his day! I mean, don't you ever seriously wonder about
these things? Someone had to be the
inventor of literally everything. I
don't mean it was the same person, but every single thing that we use are that
we are familiar with in this world had its start as an idea in someone's head.
Thinking along those lines, how about those windows!? Sooner or later someone figured out that
letting sunlight in was a whole lot better than keeping it out-- and just as in
today, a whole lot cheaper too. But,
cutting a hole in the wall can lead to absolutely miserable results in rainy or otherwise
foul weather, and become unbearable in the dead of winter. Something was needed to rectify this situation, such as, for instance, glass.
I once did a research paper on glass, and to
my total surprise and delight I learned that glass had its start in the
desert. Well, perhaps not an abandoned
desert but it certainly was a very sandy place, one that got hit with bolts of
lightning. Another genius who lived long
ago discovered the gobs of material that were left behind post-lightning bolt, and somehow he was able to
figure out that extreme heat added to sand equals the creation of a miracle
product – that which we call glass. Now,
there was a real giant leap! Okay – so
some genius figured out how to make glass.
But a really exquisite genius discovered how to make the glassey gob into a flat piece, and to refine it enough so that one could see through it – and use it to plug up those holes
in the wall. I bet that back then that new, glassy material
was looked upon as miraculous!! At last, there was a solution for plugging up
holes in walls that allowed sunlight in and kept the weather out. Hence, the birth of windows as we know them
today.
When you stop and think about it, doors and windows are
truly miraculous things. I mean, they
themselves are not miraculous but the very idea that early man was able to look around him, and to
figure out the concept of keeping things in that you want to keep in, and
keeping out things you want to keep out, and coming up with a device called the
door is to me, quite miraculous. The
concept of taking an accident of nature, and realizing the accident created a
whole new substance that could be turned into a useful tool for mankind is in
itself truly miraculous.
Doors and windows.
These are things that we take for granted, but if we seriously stopped
and thought about them long enough I think all of us would truly be filled with
awe!
