Hammer
A tool designed to perform a singular purpose: to drive a nail into a surface. Some have the capacity to remove nails, but they are often bent or ruined in the process.
Regardless of the conclusion, the substrate remains damaged. The nail has pierced and imbedded itself into the substrate, distorting its immediate surroundings and refusing to come loose. If the nail is removed, a hole is left in its wake. It can be filled with a variety of products, but it can never be returned to its pristine condition. A hammer is not designed to perform any others tasks, and attempt at using it in deviant ways are not likely to produce favourable results.
Some ideas are hammers, some are nails, and some are substrates. Some people are hammers, some are nails, and some are substrates. People and ideas readily move between these categories depending on their role in any given situation, and more than one can be occupied at a given time. The occupied category may not be entirely relevant on its own; we need to examine the complexities of our position relative to the others.
When we are hammers, do we want to hit nails? Or do we just do it because it is our nature? Do we just want to drive ourselves into things? Are we happy being hammers? Do we find our singular purpose consoling? Is having a singular purpose clarifying enough to mediate our existential dread to the point of contentment? Is this a salient existence, and if so, why? Do we prefer an existence shaped by another hand? To be swung at whatever the shaper desires?
When we are nails, do we want to be driven by a purpose-built object? Do we find resonance with hammers because we seem destined to be together? Is our design as a piercing object fulfilling? Does the substrate matter? Does the hammer? We are driven by a foreign object into another foreign object for a specified purpose; how do we feel about being the catalyst? What if we are being driven for no good reason at all? What if we are just being used to damage a substrate? What if the damage is the point? Do we accept that we may become irreversibly damaged when we are ripped loose from the substrate, and if so, why?
When we are the substrate, do we enjoy having nails driven into us? Are we anxiously awaiting a nail to pierce us with enough force so can we feel it deeply in our grain? If we prefer to be left pristine, why? How do we feel about hammers and nails? Do we perceive ourselves as the primary focus in this dynamic? Do we relish this attention? Do we expect to have nails driven into us? How do we feel about this? Does it depend on the nail? Does it depend on the hammer? How do we reconcile the necessary damage we receive through the imposition of a foreign object? Do we perceive hammers and nails as foreign, or are we a package deal?
Is being a tool better than being a catalyst? Or do we prefer the simplicity of being the recipient of any amount of attention?
Which state do we prefer to occupy? And what does this say about us?
Are any of these states commensurate with our humanity?
Probably not.
Posted: 25 Jan 2023
