chicory
Is in the eye of the beholder. We’ve all heard it. Whenever I see chicory I think of a coworker in Virginia that brought in a bouquet of chicory for the conference table where we had staff meetings. Now considering this was close to 30 years ago the most I remember was making a comment like “You found some chicory”. Pat hadn’t known the name, just thought it was pretty. And it is. It’s also considered a weed. I.e. not pretty.
Beauty can be found in many items. I and several others at the Sawmill Workshop last week saw beauty in the logs and the boards produced from them. Specifically the “defects” in the logs and boards. There were a couple attendees that are diehard NHLA standards (National Hardwood Lumber Association) where every defect is a deduction to its value (and beauty).
Beauty… or Junk vs Treasure
And isn’t the “beauty is in…” idiom the same as “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”? I married a Czech. Bohemian. One man’s junk has taken on a whole different meaning. But it’s not just ‘stuff’. It’s ideas. It’s ideals. It’s beliefs…even when the beliefs are rooted in science.
In a discussion today with one of our PC Nuts clients, who is becoming a Trees2Products client, he told me, “No one cares about trees here.” I sighed. I thought that was just my perception, because I care so much about trees. Knowing that someone other than myself and my husband (because I couldn’t have fallen for him if he did) felt that way was somewhat of a relief.
But also it was very depressing. Because since I care for trees so much, there is a feeling that my ideas are wrong because they are so opposite from everyone here. So I am so extremely grateful that SCORE didn’t think my ideas are wrong. That they saw Beauty in my dream to rescue one man’s junk from the waste pile and make beautiful things. That they awarded us one of the American Small Business Champions title. Remember SCORE helps all small businesses with resources and mentors from the trenches. They’ve been where we are. And they want to share their success. If you have a small business and haven’t used their ALL FREE services, what are you waiting for? You don’t have to win a contest.