Set them up and Knock Them Down, Just to Set Them up and Knock Them Down

“Wow this box has everything!”

I just made a local trip to the thrift store with my Mom.  When we would do that I would spend nearly the whole time in the toy section and this particular time someone had gifted a box of dominos.

It wasn’t the kind of Dominos that had dots on them, it was purely a set just for setting them up to knock them down. 

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Something interesting about dominos used in this manner is that is cyclical.  Much like going for a hike or a run.  

The goal of the activity is the activity and not the destination.  

When you go on a hike you will typically travel in a loop, or go a certain distance and come back to your starting point.  

The quickest way to get to the destination is to never have started the activity in the first place. 

We live in a society obsessed with goals and destinations as if the point of humanity and your existence is to improve on your sales quota by 25% this quarter. 

We see all around our social media people accomplishing noteworthy things such as buying homes, finishing big races, landing dream jobs, and attending big parties and crazy concerts.

It is a bit overwhelming with this information overload to think that we exist as humans for anything other than consuming media and accomplishing goals.

What did people ever do before TPS reports and Quarterly Earning Sheets?  (I actually don’t know what a TPS report is, I just know they were made infamous by the movie office space)  

Humans must have been a lot sadder before now.

Fortunately, they weren’t reminded of how sad they were.

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So back to my first thought.  

Dominos

(Not the Pizza🍕…

Although now I want some.)

I have a friend that shares things from his life on Social Media.  

It’s not the same as most of what I see out there.

A lot of it is projects he builds out of Dominos.

A grown man playing with what may now be considered an antiquated toy.

He likes to demonstrate Math Principles with them.

I’m sharing his most recent post as it stood out to me. 

He constructed a super cube in his house with some other shapes around it that took him 28 days to complete.

I would conjecture the project took the majority of his free hours and he would have had to have kept his children and wife, or any pets he may have from knocking the structure down in those 28 days.

It was an impressive monolith 🏙️.

When he initiated the catalyst that set the course for the structure’s inevitable downfall it only took about 28 seconds for the final domino to fall.

28 days of work, for 28 seconds of glory (of course he immortalized it in the video below)

For that to make sense for someone to do you have to really enjoy the setup process that goes into building dominos.  Not just enjoying watching them fall.

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So often we get caught up in achievements that we forget that most of life is a process.

Watching my friend’s video, I was reminded of a poem entitled “A Builder Or a Wrecker”

(Which is a faster read than this blog post)

This one line stood out to me

“I can easily wreck in a day or two,

What builders have taken years to do.”

People that love to work with Dominos the way that StayFawnTop does, don’t care about wrecking in a day or two what has taken them years

(They might if the project is prematurely taken down)

It’s the process of building, wrecking and rebuilding that they love

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In Free Masonry to achieve our goal, “to help good men to become better”

It often requires tearing down and building up

It is a difficult process and sometimes what took minutes to build, takes years to tear down

No Mason is ever perfect 

If you’re interested in learning more about the process of Masonry 

Send us an email letting us know where in the world you are and we’ll get you in touch with the right people to help you along in your Masonic Journey.

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Any insight into the formulas presented in the video comment below.

Math is GREAT!