I didn’t have a conventional seat in the station wagon, those were reserved for my older siblings, not me, the youngest of seven girls. But, I made something out of my space and used a little creativity to make it the best passenger experience. This wasn’t considered anything special, my entire family had an exceptional talent for making something out of nothing.
One day on our way to church, sitting in the back of that station wagon, I noticed a tear in my borrowed pair of stockings. Reluctantly, I shared my discovery and was relieved to find out there was a solution. That’s the day I learned that finger nail polish, strategically applied, could prevent the tear in my stockings from getting bigger. Fortunately, the solution helped me get several more uses out of those same pair.
How long had the finger nail polish solution existed as basic knowledge within my family? Not just that, but what about all the homemade products that supported our existence in the world? Growing up, each day seemed to invite another solution or novel idea, either passed down through the years or created on the spot. What we lacked in necessities, we made up for with our creativity.
A few years ago, I was reminded of this ingenuity when one of my sisters, a Doctor, visited my home. There was a broken handle on a barstool that I owned. My sister sat on the barstool and recognized the broken piece. Without the slightest hesitation, she grabbed a hair tie and fixed the malfunctioning component within moments. Her invention resolved the issue with no visible trace of the hair tie left behind. She thought nothing of it, but why should she? When creativity is used for so long as a means to survive, it’s hard to see the genius in what appears to be an obvious solution or common skill-set.
Today, I can walk down the aisle of nearly any store and see polished versions of ideas that, I imagine, were first created in homemade factories by people trained in the art of making something out of nothing. And while others thrive, by replicating someone else’s creative ability to survive, I wonder … What if people who only knew how to make something out of nothing, could elevate their lives, by learning how to make the most out of everything?
