Have you ever had to go to work next to a construction site?
If you’re like most people, you’re happy when it’s over. The end of a construction project means the end of congested roads, loud equipment noises, and the occasional equipment mishaps. I get it. There’s a building going up next to my office building right now.
But I for one am going to miss the construction. There’s so much that’s wonderful and worth enjoying and admiring about building something. I’ve seen this lot go from being a patch of grass to being an 8-odd story building. That’s a miracle.
Every day I get to see something growing, moving toward an end, on the move. There can be no feeling of stagnation when a building is right there, getting undeniably higher.
The crane rising over my office’s parking deck is a moving, working monument to progress. The equipment and noise and dust of the work site reveals to everyone in this little mall/office/community bubble just what it takes to make bubbles possible.
The construction workers are super-cool to me: they’re that increasingly rare breed of men with the skills to put things together. When I run into them, I do my best to give a white-collar salute to their blue-collar contribution.
Soon enough, they’ll be gone. And when the next economic downturn comes, the cranes will be gone from more skyline views as well. That will be a sad thing, because works in progress are beautiful gifts.
