Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Single Purpose

To my son Tommy,

In this ever integrated world, I wonder if I am one of the only people who miss single purpose items.  It often seems that if an item is not a swiss army knife jack of all trades type gadget, that it falls behind.  Even the most singularly purposed item, the toaster, has been dabbled with and made to multitask.  To me a bluetooth enabled tweeting toaster that can burn the weather forecast in your breakfast is just overkill.  I yearn for the simplicity of single purpose items that do one job and do it well.  I marvel at our simple toaster in the kitchen for its pure simplicity and wonder how long before a simple toaster is obsolete.  At the same time, your daddy is a bit of a hypocrite and embraces all these multipurpose gadgets with geeky exuberance.  In fact, I like to think I'm a multipurpose gadget myself.

Being a single purpose tool is not as limiting as you may think though.  Take an oven, for example.  The oven has one purpose...to get hot.  Yet with that single purpose people can make a bunch of delicious creations, from baked ziti to chocolate chip cookies.  An oven's single purpose has even extended far from the food realm, from pottery to chemistry and beyond.  It is only limited by the creativity of the user.  The oven, as a single purpose tool, has the ability to transform so many things and so many lives.  Imagine if we were a single purpose tool, whose sole job was to spread the love that fills us! Imagine how many things and how many lives we could transform!

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

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