The Zen of Balance
Aircraft construction is an act of balance. A RV9 has aproxamentaly 18,000 rivets. Although I have yet to form a single rivet I have vowed to count each and every one. The time spent forming a singular rivet is small, a matter of a few seconds. A rivet can be struck, squeezed, pounded, squashed or squished. A simple process unto itself. 18,000 rivets at 5 second a rivet, works out to 25 hours of riveting. Imagine a new RV in slightly more than a day.
The reality of the rivet is the preparation of the rivet hole. The hole of the rivet must be identified, located, drilled, deburred and primed. The hole must match the rivet and the rivet to the hole. The preparation of the hole demands a mindset that prepares for the act of forming of the rivet. The mantra is "I Do To Form" the hole is the fulcrum point of balance. The act of forming the rivet is transcendence.
Molecules of air will have to be split at speeds of two hundred miles per hour. They will have a journey of their own. It may be a slight short journey, but it will be a journey of balance. Some of the molecules will go up and some of the molecules will go down. Then they will rejoin with a new balance. It is the job of the rivet to determine the journey. It is our job to form the rivet. It is all a balance.
Life and the responsibilities of family have to be balanced with the rivet. The rivet weighs so very little, however its life has great weight. Care must be taken to prepare the rivet for life, it is the preparation for the rivet that is the key. Life must precede the rivet, home and hearth should be attended to. Then the small rivet is allowed to take form, and shape the wind.
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