I’ve been watching the progress on the brick restoration on College Hall on the Cornell Campus with interest. According to Cornell’s website, College Hall was built in 1857, four years after Cornell’s founding, as the second building on campus.
I’m not sure if the building has been refurbished like this before, but it’s amazing that after 165 years, this beautiful structure is still standing and in use, even after a lightning strike and fire in 2012.
Apparently many of the bricks were in poor shape and needed to be replaced. It’s been a fascinating process to observe skilled workers taking out the dubious bricks and preparing the building for better ones to fortify the building.
The first time I saw the building during this project, it was jarring. The facade of College Hall was no longer smooth, but was pocked and scarred by all of the missing bricks. Luckily I realized what was happening and saw the careful and precise work being done, so I knew that the finished product would make this historic building look majestic once again and that it would be ready to stand for another 100 years.
However, I kept thinking about those missing bricks and the allegory they could be for our lives. They were being removed because they had been structurally compromised and threatened the building as a whole. I started to wonder about what “bricks” in my life need to be removed to help me to be whole and to withstand the challenges I encounter.
For example, when we choose not to forgive or not to extend friendship to someone, we are just like an old building with bricks that are crumbling and chipping away. These things eat away at us and don’t allow us to give our very best to those that we love and even those that we casually come in contact with.
It’s important not only to discover those parts of us that are holding us back, but to replace them with kind actions and compassionate feelings for others. Doing so will allow us to live our best lives and to truly treat others the way that we would like to be treated.
I heard a quote once that summarizes this well: “Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.”
Let’s find those crumbling bricks in our lives and do something about them. Holding onto grudges and disagreements will only make us bitter and angry. Get rid of those bricks that are holding you down and replace them with peace and reconciliation. Life is too short to carry around a bundle of useless bricks.