MY DAD’S FAVORITE SAYINGS

APHORISMs FROM THE LAST CENTURY USEFUL TODAY

My father was born early in the last century to German-American parents who inculcated in him and his brothers a strong work ethic.  He was the middle child in a family of five boys and one girl.     My grandfather had a successful plumbing business,  a large home,  and a lovely  vacation house  in the country.My Dad’s  youth was spent at a time of relatively good economic circumstances and I think he grew up as a well adapted, happy, kind , and loving  person.  But sadly just when my Dad was of an age to seek employment, the Great Depression of  1929 struck—unemployment was rampant.  Everyone struggled for economic survival.  It was a time of economic insecurity that had a lasting and great impression Dad. . Many of his favorite aphorisms had to do with ways to adapt and to survive.  They tell of hard times and how our ancestors responded to them. They are useful today as well. 

“Waste not want not”.  Don’t waste anything. Dad saved material things that might still be useful, such as foodstuffs and balls of twine, nails and wood screws that could be used over again.  He was an early conservationist who practiced not taking more game,  fish or shellfish than you could use yourself.  But he also was opposed to wasting his own energy.  Which leads to another of his favorite sayings. 

“Do it once and do it right.”  Do not waste energy that you could use to complete  some other project when you begin a job.  When I was tasked with painting the six over six double hung  window frames on our home, I was always seeking a shortcut, so  instead of “cutting the brush loaded with paint close to the glass-wood boundary —the way I was instructed to do it and which took a lot of effort and skill—I used the fast method smearing paint over it all and then going back with a razor after the paint dried to cut a clean margin on the glass. For Dad this was a waste of time and energy.. “You are making two jobs out of one” I was told and never allowed to use that method again. 

And the related:  “Measure twice and cut once”.  This is self explanatory but relates not only to carpentry but to many other human activities. 

“It’s what you get done  before 9 Am that counts”. Any job had to be started very early in the day and much of it complete before lunch time to be most efficient. 

“What you left in your plate could feed a whole Chinese family.”   Dad never complained about what he was served for dinner.  But he did complain if we kids skidded stuff around in our plates and left food over to be wasted. Like spinach ( broccoli or peas) or not, we had to finish what was in our plates. 

“There is a place for everything and put everything in that place”.  He had an orderly mind and insisted that we lived in an orderly house.  

“ Do it now”. It was easy to say to oneself “I guess I better clean up my room, it looks a mess. Ahh yeah, but perhaps I’ll do it tomorrow,“ or  “Ok, Dad I’ll do it when I get home from school.”   But Dad knew that almost always  those were simply empty promises.  His policy was that if  you saw something that needed done—do it now— or likely it wouldn’t get done.

“Be happy you can get up to go to work in the morning.”  After a horrific accident which occurred on a battle ship undergoing repairs in the old Brooklyn Navy yard during WWII Dad suffered from pain and swelling of his ankles all his life.  He never complained about his physical ailments.  As he sat on the edge of his bed and wrapped his legs with tape  for the day to come, he would respond to my query of:  “How’s the legs this morning?”,  with the above adage. 

“Don’t back up when you are on a roof”. We often had to go up on the roof of our home in Brooklyn for repairs or inspection.  I was taught how to climb the ladder and safely get onto the roof.  But once up there. The rule was “never back up”.  

“You have to watch out for  me, when we are working”. (Learn to stay clear). When I served as a young helper and Dad was sawing or using some tool, he was focused on the job at hand and a helper had to learn to stay clear.    Dad said. “ I can’t work and look out for you too. You have to watch to stay out of the way.”  

“You can always stretch farther  than you think”.  When working on a ladder to clean windows or install the storm windows for winter, one often had to stretch out over the side of the ladder—it’s “too far”  was not accepted.  

“Always have a back up plan”

“He knows what end of the hammer to hold”. (or “ He doesn’t know which end of the hammer to hold” ) 

“Don’t throw that out, I can fix it”