Shop Class As Soulcraft

This week I began reading ‘Shop Class As Soulcraft’ by Matthew Crawford. The book speaks volumes about the value of mastery and how its pursuit fosters certain ethical virtues including individual responsibility.

Crawford’s book explores the merit found in working with one’s hands and removing our dependance upon, and blind acceptance of, present consumer culture. The empowerment that comes from self reliance is a major step toward acceptance of personal responsibility and more importantly - accountability.

I feel the real solution to many of the world’s communal problems are in the hands of each of us and our willingness to take action. Change, or inspiration for change, can come from a single act.

“People think responsibility is hard to bear. It’s not. I think that sometimes it is the absence of responsibility this harder to bear. You have a great feeling of impotence.” - Henry Kissinger (b. 1923)