Work Ethic - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Some while ago, I visited a Shaker village in northern New Hampshire. Although the Shaker population is no longer there, their village remains to be seen and to be learned from.

One religious precept they held was the need to do everything in the best possible way. If you were to build something, if you were to repair something, you would have to do that work so well that it would not need to be repeated within your own lifetime. This is why Shaker furniture is so prized.

One example of that work ethic was visible in the way they made outdoor fences.

Consider the following sketch. 

Every fence post of every fence in the village was embedded in a concrete footer to extend the life of each fence post to the maximum.

Wouldn't it be great if everything made today was made to a work ethic like that?

Comments

[John Dunn]

There are buildings in that Shaker village that were painted by the residents using a milk based paint formula that was dyed the color blue using blueberries. The paint on the laundry building was applied in 1865 and when I saw it, it was still in perfect condition, as if the job had just been completed.