Marlow's Musings 11/19/23
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
As you might imagine, it was a gorgeous sunny day in Honolulu. We were halfway up the Pali Highway, heading over the emerald Koʻolau mountains to the Windward side of Oahu, when it happened.
The engine made the kind of sound that makes your heart skip a beat. It was simultaneously a boom and a crack, followed by silence.
Heading up an incline designed to take you to an altitude of 1,100 feet in less than a mile is not time for your car to break down.
By the grace of God, we were coming up on one of the last way stations where we could safely pull over. There was enough momentum that we rolled right into a parking spot.
The police officer who stopped to help said he had never seen anything like it. The bracket holding the pully and belt for the water pump had snapped in two.
Living in Hawaii is fantastic in almost every way. One of the few downsides is (or at least was years ago) car parts are challenging to obtain. It was going to take ten days to get a replacement.
The bracket was aluminum. Fortunately for me, I was in the Marine Corps, and our metal shop could weld aluminum. All it cost me was the usual Marine Corps favor fee of a case of beer.
A day later, the car was running again. It seemed like a happy ending, and it was until the bracket broke again.
This is when I was introduced to the wisdom of G.K. Chesterton and his adage known as Chesterton’s Fence.
Chesterton’s Fence1 states you should not remove a fence until you know why it was put up in the first place.
The principle is cleverly illustrated here. Two characters are ready to remove what they assume is an ‘unnecessary’ fence without realizing there is a rhino on the other side.
A week before the breakdown on the Pali, I had been tuning up my car. Money was tight, so I would work on the car myself as often as possible to save on expenses.
Changing the spark plugs was straightforward except for a bar whose only purpose besides blocking one spark plug seemed to be to hold a clip that kept the spark plug wires off the engine so the insulation didn’t melt.
While removing the bar, the clip holding the wires broke. Because I had to rig up another way to keep the wires off the engine, I decided not to reinstall the bar.
It turns out that the bar did more than hold up the wires. It was attached to the aluminum bracket. You know…the one holding the pully and belt for the water pump.
The force of the pully and belt system put stress on the bracket and the bar was there to provide support. Without the bar, the tension on the bracket would cause it to…you guessed it, to break.
I figured it out after the second time the bracket snapped in two.
After another case of beer and five minutes to reinstall the bracket and the bar, the car was running again.
One habit I had developed as part of my training was not throwing ‘extra’ parts away, which, in this case, was incredibly fortunate.
Understanding what I initially labeled Marlow’s Mistake (now Chesterton’s Fence) has served me well.
In one way or another, for three decades of my life and career, I was focused on helping people transform their situations.
In each case, my first action was understanding the current state before prescribing specifics for change.
There are calls for change in the world right now—many from people who, for various reasons, are unaware of how we got to where we are today and why.
It’s always a good idea to ask why the fence was there in the first place.
Word of the Week
Mistake (n, v )
/əˈpifənät/
1: As a noun, an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong.
2: As a verb, to be wrong about something.
I use the writing tool Grammarly to help with spelling and punctuation. Each week, I get a report on how I’m doing.
The first time I received this report, it showed I was more productive than 91% of Grammarly users and incorporated more unique words than 98%.
I felt pretty good until I got to the next metric that showed I was more accurate than 13%.
Wait? What?!
The feedback has been consistent in every report since. I miss a lot of commas and can’t seem to spell because on the first try. It’s a word I missed in grade school, too.
Once the dent in my ego healed, I realized this was a good thing. I’m completing a lot of writing and not letting perfection slow me down. It’s a good thing in this case to make ‘misteaks.’
While recording something this week, I made a doozy of a mistake that set me back several days. In the end, though, I learned some skills, discovered a new tool, and connected with an expert in the type of audio recording I was working on who could help me in the future.
In case you missed it…
Here is the article on making misteaks…
Ikiquest+
This week in Ikiquest+…
The Coffee Contemplation was a meditation on ‘knowing the way.’ This is the first in a series of three designed to open our minds to new ways of thinking as we wrap up one year and start another.
I also shared an update on the exciting approaching feature coming to Ikiquest.
Plus, subscribers can check it out here.
Quote I’m Pondering
This week, I’ve pondered this explanation of Chesterton’s Fence from the man himself…
“There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
G. K. Chesterton
Comment of the Week:
This week’s comment comes from Cyn in A Day Like No Other…
This popped up at just the perfect moment. I’m experiencing grief over another friend’s leaving this earthly plane. The past few months the rawness of loss has been building and the past few days it’s been more than I can contain. This puts things in a more positive perspective for moving through the grief. Thank you again!
This is why I write and why the Ikigai Moai, the community of support we have, is essential. 🙏🏻
You can read the article here.
Fun Thing I Saw This Week
I spotted this vintage MG on my way to the grocery store. It is an unusual color, and I silently wished I could talk with the owner about it.
Unfortunately, he turned left, and my destination was up the hill.
As I arrived at the store, guess who was dropping his wife at the front door, having entered the parking lot from another direction?
He waited for his wife, away from other cars and rogue shopping carts.
It was a rare warm November day, and I decided to walk over and have the conversation I had wished for at the traffic light.
Before I said anything, Greg noticed my running shoes, which were the same color as his car.
He had purchased the MG only a week ago on a trip to Iowa. It had been a California car. How it ended up in Iowa, he didn’t say.
With no rust and an irresistibly low price, he decided to buy it on a whim.
Greg’s original plan had been to have it repainted British Racing Green. Like me, so many people had told him they liked the citron color that he debated leaving it as is.
I hope he does.
Final Thoughts
There is an old maxim that came to mind this week…
Singers love to sing; writers love to have written.
It was a struggle getting started on this musing. Now that it is done, this might be one of my favorites.
There is a lesson in that for me and perhaps for you. Either way, I’ll end it right there, satisfied with having written.
Quest well.
🌀 Can you articulate your Ikigai in a single sentence?
Having an Ikiverse clarifies how to live out your Ikigai.
✅ Being able to state it invites others to support you in your Ikiquest.
You can learn more about Ikiquest+ here. Check it out!
You can read more about Chesterton’s Fence, including its origins and application. https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/