Hammer, Buttons, and a stapler

Hammers, Buttons, and Staplers

My Grandfather Joe always had something to teach me whenever I came over to his house. He just didn’t tell me things; he would rather show me the values. Like we would be walking down a sidewalk and we would see a person walking the opposite way, he would make a story out of it and the story always had a moral to it.
Today would be no different. I walked into his study; he was sitting at his desk, reading a book.
His study was, which is the common opinion of all of the family, unique. On one side of it were shelves and shelves of books. I got my love of books from Grandpa Joe. On the other side was the unique part; shelves and shelves of ordinary objects. At first glance you would think that these are knick knacks or just antiques, but, they were just ordinary objects.
The one thing that you have to remember about my grandfather is that he is a philanthropist. He has studied mankind and every aspect of it for 30 years. I have never asked what they are doing there, but today my curiosity led me to ask this question.
“Hi Grandpa Joe.” I quietly said. He closed his book and looked up.
“Ah, Isabella!” He exclaimed.
“Hey Grandpa, what are ya reading?” I replied.
“Oh, it’s not important.” He answered.
Now it was time for my question.
“Grandpa, why are those random objects on your shelves?” I asked him.
A moment passed. It felt like an eternity. Would he look at me and tell me to get out? Would he just laugh and say that’s for another day? Would he just tell me instead of showing me?
“Isabella, I thought someone told you. But if I gave you examples you might be able to answer that question yourself. Go pick three things off of the shelves.” He told me.
His graying blue eyes began to shine with excitement. His square rimmed glasses were adjusted by his old wrinkled hands that shook when used.
I picked three things; a hammer, a jar with buttons, and a stapler. As I got the objects, I had it set it in my mind what they represent, considering my grandpa was a philanthropist and loved symbolism. The hammer would represent my dad; a person that is hard headed and had battle scars from his job of construction. The buttons would represent my mom, a person who could never make up her mind. The stapler was …well that one I didn’t know. Maybe it was a stapler. No, it was on the random object shelves, so it definitely represented something.
I brought them back to the desk and set them down.
“Ah. What interesting choices.” He commented.
Grandpa Joe thought for a minute, collecting words in his mind for the speech he was about to make.
“So, what do they mean?” I pushed.
“As you know, my sweet Isabella, my love is to study mankind. Human nature is the most fascinating thing in the world.” He began.
Just get on with it! Tell me! I thought to myself. Grandpa always took so long. After what seemed hours, he finally picked up the hammer.
“This hammer, my dear, represents the achievements that mankind has accomplished over the many years. The tar spots represent the wars that we had and the bleakness of fighting, which is why the spot is black. The tick marks shows the advancement that mankind has made from ever-growing wisdom. One could be the invention of fire. Another could be when we landed on the moon-“
“-So what the metal part representing?” I interrupted.
“Why, it represents all the work that went into making those advancements.” He finished.
It made sense, but also told me I was wrong.
He put the hammer down, opened the jar of buttons and dumped them out. There were so many ones. I definitely got this one correct. There’s no way it represents anything other than people who cannot make up their minds.
“The buttons represent different emotions that mankind can have.” he picked up the pink button, “Pink represents love, which is the easiest emotion to feel. However, when it gets taken away, humans tend to want to love something else to replace it. The loss of love can make a human feel empty, not wanted and even that they have no purpose. It is a easy emotion, but it is a fatal one to have.” He explained.
He put down the pink button and picked up his military buttons.
“Even though this isn’t a true emotion, a hidden one if you will, it is still an emotion nonetheless. This button represents the fighting spirit of mankind. We battle
through every struggle. We continue to press on for the better of society and society’s sake.” He continued.
He put down the military buttons and picked up the opaque button.
“This represents fear of the unknown. We want to know what will happen tomorrow, but we don’t. But, we make every stride to predict it, we cannot control it-”
“-But why did you pick it? It’s pretty clear.” I told him.
“Look into it.” He simply said.
I did. It wasn’t as clear as I thought it would be.
“It’s not very clear.” I answered.
“Exactly.” He replied.
That’s how my grandpa was. You always had to figure things out for yourself. He never would just tell you things. Supremely irritating, but smart.
“And now for the stapler.” He announced.
He picked it up after putting the buttons away. I sat there thinking what could this represent?
“This is what brings mankind together. All of these staples are one thing. It could be an emotion or an idea. But when it staples the staple, it loses that staple; another thing that binds mankind together is lost.” He explained in a sad tone of voice.
“What does that mean? You can always refill a stapler.” I told him.
“Exactly. What refills the stapler could be war, catastrophes, disasters, tragedies. We all feel the same things, we would just rather want to think otherwise.” He mystically said.
Another good point and here I was thinking it was people.
“Do you understand why I keep these things now?” He gently asked.
“Yes.” I answered.
I never thought of these things before. To me, these objects represent people, but then I realized his true point. Its not just about the person, it’s about everything that makes a person, a person. My grandpa had those objects to remind everyone that everyone’s different because of the different aspects of a person’s true personality.
That was three years ago. Grandpa Joe was my best friend.
The real reason he kept the objects was because he was beginning to show the signs of Alzheimer’s and he knew. So, all the objects reminded him of mankind and how they are all so different, but also how they are the same.
When he died six months ago, he left all of his objects to me in his will. Now I keep all of them on my shelves in my room, and on my middle shelf, I keep my three favorite objects. The hammer, the jar of buttons, and the stapler.