Resourcefulness

     "One and done" seems to be the christening chime of every new consumer item in Western culture. "Disposable" this and "recyclable" that. Even with the economic recession, things are built to be thrown away when their use has been fulfilled. No longer is the extra screw from the remote saved in a can to fix the clock when it breaks - a new clock is simply bought to replace the broken one.
     The GI generation seems to be the last great generation of repairman. The white collar classes seem incapable of getting dirty. Even gardeners use gloves to dig around in the dirt. In the great classics of adventure, most written while Britain ruled the seas and explored the deepest jungles, men knew how to work with their hands. Gun jamped? Clean it out. No matches for the fire? Rub sticks together. Cheer crying woman? Buy the biggest bouquet of flowers and actually know what each flower symbolized.
     Yes, these are Romantic examples and emphasize the tragic portions of life while avoiding the hum-drum. However, there is a net social lose as these skills pass from the working knowledge of a population. Many men no longer know how to check their engine, change their oil, or jack a car because AAA will come to the rescue if the car breaks down.

     My favorite book has long been The Swiss Family Robinson. Why? Stranded from society, the family salvages what materials they can from the wreckage of  the ship then proceeds to create nearly every aspect of the European civilization they left behind. Robinson Crusoe also does an excellent example with resourcefulness from the most obscure items to make a fully functional life.
     But why is resourcefulness important in our modern technical age? Does it achieve anything purposeful? With increasing limitations in resource gathering, re-usability has once again become desirable if still limited to the materials used. Gold, used in computer processing units, is heavily recycled both for value and rarity as is platinum in catalytic converters.
     Resourcefulness teaches thorough mastery of the environment while retaining frugality which was highly valued by Benjamin Franklin and the Romantic authors of the nineteenth century from all nationalities. Resourcefulness allows independence since much can be done with very little. Isolation and limitations are reduced to inconveniences, not crippling disasters. Independence is liberating.
     In this sense, yes, subsitutive capabilities achieve an economic aptitude and unrestrained personal liberties. The more you can do with what you have, the fewer things cease progress.
     Resourcefulness is always valued in war. Whether an invention that does your particular need exists or not,, little aids a dying man or outnumbered troops in their immediate needs. Improvisation is a skill useful for the highly experienced mind since physical resources are easily overcome with creativity and flexibility. The general that adjusts his strategy to increase the advantages of the natural topography stands a larger chance of survival if not outright success, and the man that is ingenious enough to use a razor as a bayonet may yet live to fight again.
     The next time an ordinary item becomes useless for its purchased purpose, ascertain its worth by applying its properties to a new task.

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Agatha Tyche