Last night I watched an artisan in the moment of the first showing of his creation to others. It reminded me of a young man taking his first risk of rejection with a young woman. He tentatively exposes himself to the risk of rejection while offering himself up in hopes of acceptance. We all go through this every day in our interactions with others. We take measured risks in seeking acceptance from others. Some of us, having faced repeated or particularly difficult rejections, give up and withdraw into ourselves refusing further risk. Others work to find ways to manipulate people into accepting them all the while knowing that recognition received in this way never has any real value. Most of us have become careful in how and when (and with whom) we take these risks.

Artisans, I have noticed, are forced to take these risks every time they create something. Even the celebrated craftsman offers his newest creation with a measure of fear and trembling. But they take the risk nonetheless. There must be something within that drives them to bring their creations to life and to share those creations with us. This, of course, is true of all artists: they must share; they must take the risk of rejection. This truth became experience for me last night as I watched the artisan bring in his new creation.

We all turned from what we were doing as he hand carried the chair into the house. A sort of expectant silence filled the room until we could all sense the palpable effect of his emotions in exposing this bit of his essence for our review. There was now no turning back: his self worth was on the line. He set the chair down and turned to us, unable to escape the vulnerable place in which he now found himself.

Its interesting how most of us, when faced with a person who has just offered a part of their personhood to us for us to accept or reject, miss entirely the significance of the moment. We offer our opinions with little thought for the impact they may have. But last night we got it. We joined him in the moment and shared in rejoicing over one more tiny place where crass commercialism could not intrude.

Last night we witnessed something important; something you will never see at Wal-mart. We shared in the introduction of something that will likely be here in one hundred years or more. Long after were gone that chair will live on doing what it was made to do. Last night some pieces of wood became something that will provide enjoyment for generations of people.