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Title: The Glass Block Story: Patience Pays Off
I don't know about you, but patience is not my strong suit.
In most situations, I want to move forward in action. A few
weekends ago I had an incredible experience that powerfully
drove home to me, once again, the value of patience,
especially when it comes to finding creative and effective
solutions to our problems.
The lovely wood lot next door to our house was recently
cleared to put up two more homes. We knew it was going to
happen sooner or later. On the window that faces the lot,
we had a lovely stained glass piece, however, the window
showed through about 8" on either side.
Now, with the lot cleared, every time I went by the window,
instead of lovely greenery, I noticed raw earth, scraped
by the bulldozer. It made me cringe every time. I am a big
believer in the tremendous benefit of setting up our
environment to support us. This includes all kinds of
environments, like clients, friends, beliefs, food, etc.
But in this case it was my physical/ social environment.
We had to do something to change that view out the window.
I came up with the idea of a lightweight translucent
plastic roller shade that would go behind the stained
glass. Definitely tacky, but I was adamant I did not want
to see construction for the next six months or look into
someone else's window for years after that.
Although this idea wasn't the greatest, I didn't see any
other option and my perspective, as an impatient,
action-oriented person was "Let's just put up the shade."
Fellow "action" friends take note: sometimes action can be
premature.
So what happened? We started tossing ideas around - an
attractive Japanese paper shade of some kind, plastic film
you stick on windows in bathrooms for privacy that still
lets light through, even spray-on coatings.
Yet, we agreed, none were very aesthetically pleasing in
our desire to create an uplifting, lovely environment
that would positively affect our daily performance and
happiness.
To stimulate our idea process, we went to the local home
improvement monster box store and cruised the aisles,
trying to come up with a worthy solution. No luck.
Finally, frustrated and back home again, I noticed the
glass block I had in my office. It simply sat on my window
sill since I had nowhere to install it, but I had loved it
for years. Was there some way to use the block?
We quickly discovered that the spacing was almost perfect ?
one column of glass block on either side would fill the
gaps perfectly. The wave pattern made it so, while light
came through, we didn't really see what was outside, just
some color.
Now we wondered how we would stack a column of blocks,
without mortar. It turns out they make a plastic insert for
just that purpose dry-stacking glass blocks.
We bought some blocks and inserts and you would think that
the window had been specifically planned for this purpose.
I was amazed! The solution was perfect. Yet, in my initial
rush to solve the problem, I would never have come up with
this.
It was a wonderful lesson to me to:
1) take enough time to come up with the best solution, and
2) put your head together with one or more others to
guarantee better solutions.
In this action-oriented culture, there isn't much value
placed on patience. Let us be wise and not make that
mistake.
