New Word

I learned a new word yesterday. It's "sprezzatura". Have you heard of this word? It's Italian in origin, and it is defined as, "A certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it." Other nuances of this word are, that it is the ability to "display an easy facility in accomplishing difficult actions which hides the conscious effort that went into them", and it also has been described as, "a form of defensive irony, the ability to disguise what one really desires, feels, thinks, means, or intends behind a mask of apparent reticence or nonchalance."

Some examples of this are: college students who obtain perfect grades and seemingly never study, politicians who have rehearsed every "ad lib" comment they make before debates, but yet the comments roll right off their tongues looking completely on the spur of the moment, and the butler who serves his master, keeping confidences but also his opinions about the goings on in the household to himself.

My friend who introduced me to this word says that it's a goal in his life-to not only do his job with grace and make it appear effortless, but also to look unruffled and unfazed in front of coworkers and administration.

I've never thought about this quality before, much less whether or not I'd like to possess it. I have had some say to me in the past, "You seem to play the piano so easily", but this is almost always followed by a remark about the years of practice and effort that it takes. When I watch craftsmen - for example, I recently saw a video about a master knife maker that pours his sweat into handtooling kitchen knives, and all the work that goes into that - yet, when he pounds the layers of steel together and shapes the handles, it almost looks casual. After watching that, I find that I have a new appreciation for those folks who work with their hands and make it look easy.

I have uncles, who following a long line of people in my family, fashion things from wood - and I so much appreciate the craftsmanship that this requires, but one thing I don't see as the grateful recipient is all the projects that didn't turn out well, all the frustration and effort and cutting pieces wrong, and making mistakes, and all that which goes into learning how to be a craftsman. As I think about it, it makes these things even more dear to me - they are the product from someone who seemingly effortlessly made them, but yet, I know the sweat and tears, so to speak, that went into the creating of them. (That reminds me Wayne, I need to come up over Christmas break, which starts next Monday, and get that last set of pens from you. I will email you about that!)

Thank you, craftsmen and craftswomen, for all the practice, effort, mistakes, and learning that went into helping you do your jobs so well! Our world is certainly more beautiful in every way because of that.