I wrote a comment on Huffington Post in reaction to a beautiful video about how ink is made. As a result I became aware of what an huge influence one person with a big heart and an interest in young people can be.
I was in those teen aged doldrums many young men fall into. My first stab at college hadn't worked out well. Too much partying, too little sleep, not enough study. So I ended up back living with my parents, working as a stock-boy for an insurance company. My parents weren't happy with me, I wasn't happy with me, I didn't date (who'd want me?). You get the picture.
The insurance company had frequent, large schools for new agents, so they had some heavy needs for printed materials. In those days (mid to late '60's), in Palo Alto CA, R.M. Van Valkenberg was The Man for printing, so I made trips to his shop often. I've never been shy about talking to anyone and always been curious about how things work and the theory behind their workings.
Stick with me, the political point comes at the end.
Well, Mr. Van Valkenberg (Van) began to show me how printing worked. He had CARPETED his print shop. Van simply didn't drop ink. He didn't call service men for his fancy offset press, he just pulled out the drawings ... and showed me how he was troubleshooting a problem.
One thing led to another and before you knew it ... I had printer's ink under my fingernails. For those who don't know, that's like Florida sand between your toes ... it never goes away.
Van showed me how to set up a hydraulic press to cut paper cleanly and accurately. While doing it, he explained how the machine worked, the history of the techniques, and pointed out how cleverly the machine was designed to make the next steps simpler. He showed how photographic plates were made and transferred to metal, how the ink and water spread over the plate's surface exactly where they were supposed to be.
Between times he pulled out his Mont Blanc pen with the gold nib and gave me finely coated paper to try it out. I must tell you ... that is an experience you'll never forget ... it's almost sinfully sensuous. I have been a fan of writing instruments ever since. He gave me a simple jade "thinking stone" and left me with some time to run my thumb over it to smooth it with my skin oil and make it mine. Van explained how Japanese banks rated their tellers by how many calculations per minute they could perform on an abacus. Van was highly rated with an abacus.
Van told me about the classes he was auditing at Stanford. He was learning about the propagation of light, to better his photographic plates, he said. He was an ex-Head Mechanical Engineer for Bell & Howell (I was mistaken in the HuffPo post).
He was a large man who shaved his head bald and wore a beret, which was odd to me. But, Van was what Van was, you could take him or leave him.
Looking back he was one of the most influential people in my life. He never pushed me. He never nudged me. He just demonstrated how valuable, and beautiful knowledge was. All the while, to my teen-aged, angst-ridden self, he was an elderly friend. During that time, I remember wondering, why is this COOL old man bothering with me?
I'm now 65 years old. Only now am I beginning to understand why R.M. Van Valenberg bothered with me. He saw something I didn't see. You see, slowly, I shed my angst. I went to Foothills Junior College, took bookkeeping as a way to earn a living so I could get my degree. I got a job keeping books (because another COOL old man saw drive, provided by Van). I got into Stanford and got my economics degree.
Now to the politics of this all. Our society is not about "You're on your own." It's not about "Zero Tolerance". It's not about cut and dried formulaic justice or education. NO legislation - NO law - No formula can do what's best for society unless it is a guideline used with wisdom by people with the good of the community in their mind at all times. R.M. Van Valkenberg was one of those people. Was he the last one? I'm sure not, but politics these days is too toxic to attract people as good as Van.