I am a pencil - the ordinary wooden pencil, as long as it is able to read and write men, women and children are the most familiar, but the pencil.
Writing is my duty, and also my hobby; That is where all my work.
You certainly strange, Why should I engage in a genealogy. Well, let me explain, ah, first of all, because my story is very interesting. Secondly, I is a mysterious thing - than the trees, than the sunset, or even than the lightning mysterious and more. However, unfortunately, with my people I see bland, as if I was completely drill out, do not need a little background. This supercilious attitude I fall into the grade of the popular and dependable. This is a heartrending error, and if people make this mistake, it will inevitably go wrong. Because, the learned GKChesterton once said: "We will destroy because of a lack of curiosity, and not because of the expected miracle destruction."
I, Pencil, although it looks flat Fanfan, but also worth you explore and awe, I'll prove it to you. In fact, if you can understand my heart - Well, no matter what people are I'm afraid to ask too much - if you can recognize the implication of the paradoxes of you will be willing to work hard maintenance people are unfortunate loss of freedom. I can teach you a profound lesson. And I teach you lessons run deeper than cars, planes or dishwasher - this is precisely because I look so simple.
Simple? On this earth, no one can understand how I was made. This sound is a bit ridiculous, is not it? Especially when we know that in the United States, the annual production of 1.5 billion I, even more ridiculous.
I get up closer look, what do you see? Not much left - that is, some wood, paint, printed labels, graphite, a little bit of metal, as well as an eraser.
Countless predecessor
You can not put your family dates back to the very distant era, Again, I would be unlikely to come to call the name of all my predecessor, and explain the. However, I want to list as much as possible, so you have a good understanding of the richness and complexity of my background.
My family tree was counting from one tree, a tall cedar grew up in northern California and Oregon. Now, you can imagine, saws, trucks, rope, and countless felled and transported to the cedar logs next to the railroad a variety of devices. Think again manufacturing all kinds of views and means of transport and numerous skills: ore mining, smelting iron and steel, and then processed into saws, axes, the engine; cultivation of cannabis, and processed into a thick rope through a complex process; logging camps have beds, tents, cooking meals, to consume a variety of foods. Oops, forgot to say, the loggers drink a cup of coffee behind, there are thousands of people labor!
The roundwood shipment transported to San Leandro, California. Can you imagine people making large flat truck, rail, locomotive, and those who built and installed sent me to the entire transport system? Which countless people who are also my predecessor.
Think of San Leandro wood processing plants. Cedar logs are cut into the pencil so long thin strip, only 1/4 inch thick. To these slats in a drying oven drying, however, the color, like women a reason to whitewash the face. People like me look neat, I do not like pale appearance. The slats wax, and then drying. Manufacture of pigments, the needs of the drying heat, lighting, electricity, belts, motors, a factory equipment, and so on, all of which required skills? The factory cleaner can be considered my predecessor? Yes, should also include Pacific Gas & Electric power plant dam casting cement! Because it is these power stations power supply to the factory.
Do not forget that sooner or later the state of the county during transport - truck-mounted 60 tons - out of a force of people wear in thin strips.
Now, to the pencil factory - this factory in machinery and plant construction to put four million U.S. dollars, all this capital, are my biological parents live frugally accumulated. A very complex machine in each lath out of eight narrow grooves, then by a machine in another strip laying refills with glue, and then, on the other slats above - - It can be said made a refill sandwich. "Firmly glued together wood sandwich and then cut by the machine, I was born with seven brothers.
"Pencil lead" itself - it is in fact simply do not lead - quite complex. From Ceylon graphite exploitation. Think of the miners and manufacturing tools they used, and those who transport graphite paper bag production ship workers, as well as those who are on board, there are those who shipbuilding. Even the guardian of the lighthouse along the day I was born out of a force - Port navigator who.
Graphite with production since the the Mississippi bed of clay were mixed, in a refining process, but also to use ammonium hydroxide. Then, to add wetting agents, such as after sulfonate processing oils - this is animal fats with sulfuric acid chemical reaction produced. After a one machine, these mixtures last look in continuous extrusion - seems to be squeezed like a sausage grinder - cut to size, dried, and then the temperature of 1850 degrees Fahrenheit baked for several hours. In order to improve its strength and smoothness, but also treated with a mixture of a hot pencil lead, including paraffin wax, Euphorbia paraffin after hydrogenated natural fats and production from Mexico.
My cedar wood coated with six layers of paint. You know all the ingredients of the paint? Who would have thought the castor bean growers and processing of castor oil is my predecessor as an integral part? They are indeed. Ah, just paint modulated into a beautiful yellow color process, involved in a wide variety of people's skills, numerous.
Take a look at the label. That a thin film is formed by heating a mixture of carbon black with the resin, may I ask, do you know how to manufacture the resin, you know that carbon black is what?
Me point metal - the ferrule - is brass. Think of those mining zinc ore and copper ore people, there are those people to use their skills, the gift of nature was made into sparkling thin brass sheet. The black circle on the ferrule are black nickel. Black Nickel what it is, what is the purpose? Why in the middle part of my ferrule has no black nickel light this problem, you have to spend a lot of pages to give an unequivocal answer.
Then is my supreme crown in the industry was very vulgar known as "plug" is used to erase my mistakes that thing. Starting to erase the kind of ingredients called the "vulcanized rubber oil". What looks like rubber, rapeseed oil produced by the Dutch East Indies with sulfur chloride chemical reaction produced. Rubber, on the contrary, only from the bonding effect with most people imagine. Here, need a variety of vulcanizing agent and a catalyst. Pumice produced in Italy, to "plug" colored pigment is chromium sulfide.
Unknown
Now, who else I mentioned earlier, this argument against: no one know how to make this earth?
In fact, has millions involved in the birth process, no one can know a little more than others. You will say, I too far, even the distant Brazilian coffee bean pickers and other local food growers, with my production process also drawn together. This would be a gross exaggeration. However, I still stand by my statement. In which millions of people, everyone, even the president of the pencil manufacturing company, only negligible contribution to a little bit of practical knowledge (know-how). From the point of view of practical knowledge as far away as the only difference between the the Ceylon graphite mining workers and the Oregon loggers, only in different types of practical knowledge. Miners and loggers, the contribution of not more than the chemical division or plant oil field workers - paraffin is derived from petroleum and out - more.
It's really amazing things: oil field workers or chemical division, home, or graphite, clay mining workers, or the production of the manufacture of ships, trains, trucks, or to manipulate the machine knurled ferrule on the workers, or pencilthe president of the manufacturing company, all of these people, not because I need me to do their job. It is likely that the demand for each of them for me, such as not more ardent graders In fact, countless people, and some people may never never seen a pencil, but also do not know how to use the pencil. They simply do not think of me. Their motives may be this: millions of people that everyone understands, he can be with his negligible practical knowledge in exchange for their own needs or shortage of goods and services. These needs, which may include, or may not include me.
Nobody dominate
One more thing is even more amazing: did not dominate to give orders or mandatory command to produce numerous production activities. Signs of such a character that does not exist. Instead, we found that the invisible hand at play. This is the mysterious things that I referred to earlier.
It is said that "only God can create a tree." Why do we agree with this, it not because we all understand that we can not create a tree? In fact, we even really be able to a tree it clear? I do not think we can, we can only describe some surface phenomenon. For example, we can say that the performance of a particular molecular structure which is a tree. However, in humans, really there are some people have the ability to record, not to mention the command to make a tree of life molecules continuously changing? Such a feat, it is unimaginable!
I, pencil, the many miracles complex combination of: tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on and so forth. However, show all the miracles in nature, there is an even more extraordinary miracle: the aggregation of all the creative spirit - millions of negligible practical knowledge, naturally, spontaneously, integrated together , which respond to the needs and desires of the people in this process, there is not even anyone to dominate! Only God can make a tree, I insist, it is God create. That man can not command the millions of actual knowledge come together to create, as he could not aggregated into molecules together to create a tree.
This is when I wrote that sentence in front of the intention of lies: "If you can recognize that I implied incredible place, you will want to strive to safeguard the people are unfortunate loss of freedom". Because if people realize that these practical knowledge will naturally is automatically organized into creative, efficient form, so as to respond to the needs and demands of the people - that is, there is no Government or any mandatory control - the hands of the freedom of the most essential elements: the confidence of freedom. Without this confidence, there can be no freedom.
Once the government has a monopoly on creative activities, such as the delivery of mail, then the vast majority of people will believe that the mail was not by the people can move freely to effective delivery. The following reasons: everyone recognizes that he himself does not know how to do everything with the relevant departments of the delivery of mail, he also acknowledged that no individual can not do this. These ideas are correct. No individual has sufficient practical knowledge of manufacturing a pencil, and similarly, there will not be any individual has sufficient practical knowledge of the delivery of mail in the country. Today, due to a lack of confidence - not realized that millions of people throughout the negligible practical knowledge in order to meet this demand naturally free man, miraculously formed and cooperate with each other - it can only come to mistake for the conclusion: e-mail can only be delivered by the government "in charge".
More evidence
IF i, Pencil, only free to try the men and women in the world can achieve what achievements provide evidence of things a person some lack of confidence could be forgiven, however, the evidenceis just around the corner, at your fingertips. Compared with the manufacture of a car or a computer, a combine harvester thousands of things, deliver the mail it is the easiest thing to do. Are transported However, owing to let people free to try, so they can send people in less than a second sound anywhere in the world; incident is still under way, they can transfer the image into the that every household; them within four hours of the 150 passengers sent from Seattle to Baltimore; their natural gas from Texas sent to New York families furnace and costs low, incredible, but also do not want any subsidies; their four pounds of oil shipped from the Persian Gulf to the east coast of the United States - almost half circle around the earth - the money spent, than the government ounce letters sent across the street from the closing cost to be less!
I teach people the revelation is: Let all the creative vitality of unhindered play out. Functioning of society can be organized in accordance with this experience only. Social justice agencies shall make its best efforts to remove all obstacles that prevent these dynamic play. Practical knowledge to allow these creative flow freely. To believe that the invisible hand of free men and women would react. This belief will be confirmed. I look again simple a pencil, proved to me miraculous birth process, which is a real and viable faith, like the sun, rain, snow, cedar tree, and so on all the good things really letter.