“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.” ~ Francis Bacon
The WordPress Photo Challenge for today is titled, “Broken. This week, capture something broken.”
Some things must be broken to be used, an egg must be cracked to be eaten, a tree must be felled to be cut into lumber, a horse must be broken before it can be rode.
A “broken” pencil showed up in my junk drawer recently. I think the small stub of graphite and wood has probably spent about two decades in this shortened condition. Why? Well, because boys will be boys, and most likely one of my sons sharpened this pencil down to a nub while in middle school. This same scenario held true when I was a young student. Preteen boys delighted in reducing their pencils into nubs just like the “broken” one in my photograph. The sight of tiny pencils always curls my lips upward in a nostalgic smile.
So often as I go about my day I will have the flash of a good idea, but later on, find myself completely unable to remember it. I’ve tried carrying around a pen and paper in pants or shirt pockets to write down these good thoughts, but invariably get stabbed in the thigh, or have ink leak out and spoil a good shirt. When I saw this small pencil I realized it solved the problem of being too long, but what to do about that sharp point…Yikes!
The problem was easily solved by placing an old ink pen cap over the sharpened end.
A piece of paper folded into a tiny square was the perfect addition. I’m ready now to record all the good ideas that I am blessed with today and in the future. Do you have any tiny pencils to carry around in your pocket? If not, break a pencil in two and sharpen, sharpen, sharpen. Good ideas are priceless!
