Jane Doe, Alive and Well

We made a change this weekend, my husband and I.

This change took some physical effort because we tore down part of our old, sagging, rotting, safety-liability (we do carry insurance), full-of-splinters back porch.
This was, at one time, a pretty nice porch. I’m not sure how long ago – probably about two decades would be my guess. It’s constructed of long redwood planks. The fiberglass roof has survived many, many storms –the little beds of moss growing in between the panels act like an organic superglue. We could see when we bought the house that it would need to be replaced, and it’s finally gotten to the point where we can’t put it off any longer.
Dad and Son pulled off the planks, then I took care of the nails in them and stacked the boards in a different part of the yard. My job gave me a pretty close look at the nails.
At first I was just pounding them over so no one would step on a nail sticking out of the wood. But then I started thinking about what a waste that was! These were nice nails! Thick, long, strong, straight. The porch failed, but not because of the nails. They did their job of holding that porch together for a long time, through sun and storm. I remembered a book I read once about a family during the depression, and the dad was teaching the son to hammer a nail in straight, so years later you could pull it out straight, so you could reuse it. So I decided to see how many nails I could pound out straight, just to see if I could wield a hammer with any kind of skill.
Since I have the topic of change on the brain, I started thinking about those nails. They were a great picture of being resistant to change. I had a little conversation with one and it went like this:
Nail: “Hey! What are you doing! You are pounding me the wrong way!”
Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. We’re tearing out this porch and I’m trying to save you so I can reuse you.”
N: “What! What do you mean you are tearing out this porch? This house needs this porch!”
Me: “Well….the porch isn’t useful anymore, because it’s not safe, so we have to change it. But don’t worry, we’re building another porch, and you can help hold that porch up.”
N: “But we’ve always had THIS porch! I’m not leaving this board!”
Me: “Well, you can stay with this board and be thrown into the junk pile and taken to the dump, or you can stay around and be useful in the new porch.”
N: “I don’t want to be a part of another porch! I gave the best years of my life to this porch. I remember when this porch was new and I remember the storm of ’98, and without this porch this patio would be a mess!”
Me: “Look, we know we still need a porch. We just need to change it to make it work better.”
N: “I can’t change. I’m a part of this board and that’s just how I am.”
Me: “Fine.” (Wham!)

I know that’s pretty silly, but it got me thinking about how resistant people can be to change, even when it’s necessary or for the common good. It got me thinking about how resistant I can be towards change, especially when I'm focused on my own one little board. Take the word “porch” out of the above “dialogue” and insert your own word having to do with your work place, or significant relationship, or your pet political or religious beliefs or a character flaw you struggle with…..we all can be pretty resistant to change.
The best part of the porch-destruction adventure wasn’t the nails, though. It was the cement. That part will have to wait until tomorrow.