Today's fortune: Your skills will accomplish what the force of many cannot.
This is an intriguing fortune, and the sentiment expressed here has inspired men and women for generations. The idea of one person being able to outshine many - or, more often, one (or a few people) against many - is common in literature, history and life. The most prominent example of this may come from war, where small armies are sometimes superior to larger ones (see: The American Revolutionary War).
And every time I thought about this fortune today, the soundtrack playing in my head was one of many songs by the band Muse:
True, the fortune can be inspiring. I'm just not sure how it applies to me. I believe I have some skills. But what little I'm accomplishing with those skills is probably not more than any other person could accomplish.
But you know, I was able to accomplish something today that many other people believed wouldn't work. Let me explain.
As I've written before, Jamie and I are switching two rooms in our house, moving our bedroom stuff to the office and vice versa. That effort comes to a head this weekend; by tomorrow evening, our plan is to sleep in our new master bedroom.
To help us move stuff from room to room, I recently borrowed a hand truck (or dolly, what have you) from my dad. He hadn't used it for a long time, and the thing had grown dilapidated, broken down and rusty. One wheel was broken, and the metal thingy you stick under whatever you're lifting (I'm sure it has a name) was hanging on by one sad little bolt.
My parents and my wife told me to forget about the dolly; it was so broken down, it wouldn't help us in the move. But I tossed it in the back of my truck anyway.
This morning, I drove down to the local hardware store and spent five bucks on a new wheel. I came home and replaced the wheel, founds some bolts and nuts in my toolbox and bolted the thingy back on, and I cleaned it up a little. I even covered the bottom of the thingy with duct tape so the rusty surface wouldn't stain our carpet. Now it's as good as used.
The hand truck was destined for the scrap heap. With five bucks and a little elbow grease, I resurrected it, and now I'm going to use it to make our house a little more livable.
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