In my new book, A Year of Living by the Constitution, I talk about the lessons we learned from our Founding Fathers, and in this article I want to talk about the importance of getting your hands dirty. (See the video at the beginning of this article.)
While writing and researching the book, I got my hands dirty.
literally.
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First, I wrote the book with a quill, so I ended up with black ink all over my fingers.
As I mentioned in the previous article in this Constitution series, I was literally an ink-stained wretch.
“I tried to live like the founding generation did, so I got my hands dirty, and that meant doing a lot of DIY work with my own hands,” says bestselling author AJ Jacobs. (AJ Jacobs, iStock)
But because I was trying to live like the founding generation did, I also got my hands dirty, and that meant a lot of DIY work with my own hands.
I carved the quill with a razor blade.
I carved my own walking stick from a large branch.
When you create your own objects, you connect with them in a tangible way.
He concocted his own ink from powder from abandoned hornet nests.
I sewed some of my own clothes.
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I baked my own bread from scratch.
This experience made me keenly aware that handcraft is a great American value.
When you create your own objects, you connect with them in a tangible way.
“Living by the Constitution” For a year, Jacobs, along with her family (left), dressed appropriately for the role and worked with her hands. (A.J. Jacobs)
You will begin to appreciate and cherish those items in a different way than if you bought them at a big box store or had them delivered to your doorstep or front door from an online retailer.
In social psychology, there's a phenomenon called the “IKEA effect”: studies have shown that people value things they've made themselves more.
The phenomenon was named after a Swedish furniture store because customers often had to assemble the tables themselves.
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Professor turned motorcycle mechanic Matthew B. Crawford talks about this issue in his book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work.
There has been a “change in our relationship to things” and we have become “more passive and more dependent.”
He argues that there has been a “change in our relationship to things” and that we have become “more passive, more dependent.”
And this, he says, is troubling.
Think for a moment about the idea of restoration, it's a lost art.
Instead of trying to repair things, we often throw them away.
To counter this trend, a burgeoning “right to repair” movement has emerged, arguing that manufacturers need to make devices that can actually be fixed by hand.
I support this movement.
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Making things by hand also connects us to the great tradition of American individualism.
When you buy a product, you are buying the same product that millions of other people are buying.
Jacobs is the author of the new book, “A Year of Living by the Constitution.” (A.J. Jacobs)
Much of modern advertising boils down to a ridiculously contradictory message: “Express your individuality! Buy our mass-produced products!”
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But for true individuality, make it yourself, and even if it's imperfect, it will be unlike anything else out there.
The pride you get from making something yourself is more than worth getting your hands dirty.
Homemade gloves will not be as symmetrical as store-bought ones.
But that's a good thing.
Japanese culture has a concept called “wabi-sabi,” which celebrates the small imperfections of handmade objects, such as the uneven surface of a handmade bowl.
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In researching and writing the book, I rediscovered the joy of craftsmanship (even though I'm not naturally handy).
I found that the pride I get from making something of my own is more than worth getting my hands dirty.
“A Year in Living by the Constitution: One Man's Humble Quest for the Constitution's Original Meaning” The book by AJ Jacobs (2024) is published by Crown.
