You’ve heard the old maxim “Time is money.”

You’ve no doubt heard “Youth - it’s a pity it’s wasted on the young.”

You’ve also heard the buzz about the DOMINO and it’s price tag.

And that got me pondering the Time / Money / Age Paradox.

Two of my “kids” (by “kids” I mean between 4 and mid 30s and by “my
kids” I mean people I’ve emotionally become attached to who may or may
not be biologically related) have a gift for and an interest in
woodworking. One is a contractor and loves carpentry, the other likes
to make furniture he can’t find anywhere and couldn’t afford to buy if
he could find it somewhere. Niether has much “spare time” or “spare
money”.

And I’ve met other woodworkers with a real gift and passion for
woodworking - but “no spare money” and very little “spare time” - who
just can’t afford a tool or two that could free their creativity and
reduce the grunt work significantly.

Isn’t it ironic that when you’re young and have NO “spare time” AND
almost NO “spare money”, you can’t afford the “time saving tools” (or
the nice wood) to make stuff you can’t afford to buy. Yet by the time
you do have “spare time” and do have “spare money”, you already have the
nice furniture and can afford the “time saving tools”.

The “time saving tools” are wasted on the old?

My question to the group:

If you’ve upgraded to a new (and improved, quicker, easier, more
accurate) tool and don’t have the “extra space” to keep its predecessor,
what do you do with “its predecessor”?

a) Would you consider “passing it on” to someone
who could really use it but can’t afford to buy it?

b) How do you find that person?

Having had several wonderful mentors who taught me so much - and gave me
so many of their “old” tools and equiptment, along with a wealth of
knowledge of a subject, I’ve tried over the years to follow their
example. And I’ve come to learn that you get back something that money
can’t buy and that I could never explain to someone who thinks “time is
money”.

Just something to think about - or not.

charlie b