Strokes...from the Penn

In my home workshop I have a circular saw. It's heavy and powerful and has a carbide-tipped blade which allows me to cut most any type of wood smoothly and efficiently. Since I am not a carpenter by trade (nor an avid woodworking hobbyist), the saw usually stays in the box it came in. When I need it, I take it out and use it-and then I put it back.

Not once, in the 30-plus years I have owned that saw, have I ever been tempted to take it out of the box and "play" with it. Not once have I thought, Gee, I've got time to kill; maybe I'll go down into the workshop and cut-up random pieces of wood. Why? Because the saw is a tool, not a toy. I don't "play" with tools.

In my home office I have a computer. It is fast and powerful, and has all the requisite software installed so that I might process words, create spreadsheets, send and receive E-mail messages, etc. It is much more efficient than the typewriters, calculators, and whatnot that it replaced, and when I need to use it, I turn it on and when I'm finished using it, it gets shut down.

Not once, in the dozen or so years I've owned a computer, have I ever been tempted to turn it on just to "play" with it. Not once have I thought, Gee, I've got time to kill; maybe I'll go into the office and play a game. Why? Because to me, a computer is a tool, not a toy. I don't "play" with tools.

I realize, of course, that a computer is not a circular saw and the fact that game software exists is testimony to the fact that the machines can be used as toys. I just have a real problem with the entire concept. Because if one gets used to "playing" with one's tools, one is apt to find it very convenient to avoid "working" with them. Many people, in fact, seem to have lost the ability to distinguish between one activity and the other.

It always amuses me when people complain how "overworked" they are and then tell me about how proficient they've become at Minesweeper or Solitaire or any of the myriad of other mindless games that are resident on their hard drives. Of course, if people want to waste time, they are going to do so and I doubt that wasting time on the computer is any worse than wasting time hanging around the coffee pot. But it's difficult to look occupied while hanging around the coffee pot. The beauty (if you will) of frittering your time away on the computer is that those who don't know you better might actually think you are accomplishing something.

Ira A. Penn, CRM, CSP Editor, RMQ

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