Measure Twice Cut Once

I remembered an old adage (Measure twice , cut once) while cutting the stiles and rails for some picture frames I'm building. The idea is that you'll waste less material and time if you double-check the measurements you are using before your final cut. Failure to do so can also result in another situation I'm very familiar with, "...cut it off three times and it's still too short".

While the application seems immediately suited to construction; sawing off the end of a board, replacing a counter top, cutting a piece of glass for a window opening, that's not the application that came to mind and caused me to turn my saw off for a few minutes.

It occurred to me that in my life I've spent a huge amount of time re-cutting, re-shaping, re-learning so many things, not because I didn't have what I thought were the correct measurements at the time, but because I was content to use someone else's yardstick while never really learning to measure some things for myself. It is much easier that way isn't it? When the plans don't work out quite right it really isn't my fault. After all, I got the measurements from somebody else. Well, when it comes to shower curtain rods or tomato stakes it's not a big deal. But if we're talking about life changing subjects and decisions, decided using someone else's measurements, we could be in for a world of hurts.

Surprising how many seemingly intelligent folks are living their life using the measurements of others as their own standard for; faith, happiness, success, political choice, failure, morality, spirituality and Godliness. That's sad because that means they are probably also using those same standards to determine the condition and worth of others, of you and me in those same categories.

I don't mean to say that we should totally discount or reject everyone's standard of measurement other than our own. What I mean is none are above being checked for accuracy. Some people try to impose the idea that there has to be a universal standard (in the same sense that twelve inches equal a foot) imposed in areas where individual understanding, responsibility and choice is necessary. Imagine the confusion that results in trying to live according to a standard set for you by someone who never really understood it and blindly accepted it in the first place. The bewildered guiding the confused. Each handing over their own maps to the other for direction.

I knew a fellow who could not read or write, except for his first name which he printed ever so slowly on the back of his paycheck before he cashed it at the end of the week. But oh, how he could count and measure. On payday, he would take the old Lufkin folding rule out of a back pocket and somehow using it as a sort of slide rule he could tell you to the penny (including overtime hours worked) how much his pay would be. When he received his pay he would look at the numbers on the check and compare them with his rule sliding his thumb back and forth along the scale until he was satisfied all was in order.

If in your life you are living and planning using measurements you've never questioned or honestly taken the time to check for accuracy, how can you claim ownership? You are working on somebody else's project.
If nothing else, learn how to measure. Learn how to measure and then be bold enough to take responsibility for the cut you are making. That ability will really come in handy on payday.