Sometimes you are the hammer

Sometimes you are the hammer, and sometimes you are the nail
Sometimes you are the nail, and sometimes you are the two-by-four
Sometimes you are the two-by-four and sometimes you are the saw
Sometimes you are the saw, and sometimes you are the sawdust
Sometimes you are the sawdust, and sometimes you are the janitor
Sometimes you are the janitor, and sometimes you are the student
Sometimes you are the student, and sometimes you are the guru
Sometimes you are the guru, and sometimes you are the Beatles
Sometimes you are the Beatles, and sometimes you are the Rolling Stones
Sometimes you are the Rolling Stones, and sometimes you are the moss
Sometimes you are the moss, and sometimes you are the bark
Sometimes you are the bark, and sometimes you are the bite
Sometimes you are the bite, and sometimes you are the hand
Sometimes you are the hand, and sometimes you are the arm
Sometimes you are the arm, and sometimes you are the shoulder
Sometimes you are the shoulder, and sometimes you are the head
Sometimes you are the head, and sometimes you are the body
Sometimes you are the body, and sometimes you are the forensic pathologist who has odd, but endearing traits, such as eating lunch while working, or listening to music by modern composers
Sometimes you are the forensic pathologist, and sometimes you are the detective who should stop smoking
Sometimes you are the detective, and sometimes you are the hunch
Sometimes you are the hunch, and sometimes you are the hunchback
Sometimes you are the hunchback, and sometimes you are the bell
Sometimes you are the bell, and sometimes you are the clapper
Sometimes you are the clapper, and sometimes you are the performer
Sometimes you are the performer, and sometimes you are the killer in the wings waiting for the right moment to cut the rope/pull the trigger/light the fuse
Sometimes you are the killer, and sometimes you are the plot
Sometimes you are the plot, and sometimes you are the exposition
Sometimes you are the exposition, and sometimes you are the bored student taking tickets
Sometimes you are the bored student taking tickets, and sometimes you are the person they are thinking about
Sometimes you are the person the bored student is thinking about, and sometimes you are the person who had the nerve to ask the person the bored student is only thinking about on a date
Sometimes you are a person who asked the student’s crush out on a date, and sometimes you are the person stalking the person who asked the student’s crush on a date
Sometimes you are the stalker, and sometimes you are the campus security officer taking the complaint about the stalker but your hands are tied
Sometimes your hands are tied, and sometimes your hands and feet are tied
Sometimes your hands and feet are tied, and sometimes you are tying someone else’s hands and feet
Sometimes you are tying someone’s hands and feet, and sometimes you can’t because you forgot how to tie the right knot
Sometimes you forget how to tie a knot and give up, and sometimes you consult the Boy Scout Manual
Sometimes you consult the Boy Scout Manual, and it makes you nostalgic about your childhood
Sometimes you are nostalgic about your childhood, and can smell wet grass, and see the dew or feel the cold night air on your face, running around in the middle of the night, even now, almost fifty years later
Sometimes you are nostalgic about your childhood and puzzled that you could forget so much of it while remembering certain bits in such detail and you feel like an archaeologist reconstructing a behemoth from a tooth and a bone from the inner ear
Sometimes you are a bone from the inner ear, and sometimes you are the foot bone
Sometimes you are the foot bone, and sometimes you are the foot
Sometimes you are the foot, and sometimes you are the ball
Sometimes you are the ball, and sometimes you are the princess
Sometimes you are the princess, and sometimes you are the witch
Sometimes you are the witch, and sometimes you are the Wiccan who would like to be a witch
Sometimes you are the Wiccan who would like to be a witch, and sometimes you are their office-mate who likes reading because then you don’t have to look at people
Sometimes you are the Wiccan’s office-mate, and sometimes you are their bookshelf
Sometimes you are the Wiccan’s office-mate’s bookshelf, and sometimes you are the book
Sometimes you are the book, and sometimes you are the librarian who found a hammer in the book-return chute
Sometimes you are the librarian who found a hammer in the book-return chute, and sometimes you are the hammer

2 responses to “Sometimes you are the hammer

  1. joeri

    Wow! Made me think of this quote I once found at Nicholas Carr’s site”: “Not only does everything look like a nail to the man with a hammer, but the solution to every problem looks like a nail gun.”

  2. mig

    Yes, I love that expression. Maybe that comes as no surprise. That, and the Dunning-Kruger effect say a lot about human society.