The Effects of Repetitive Motion

While trying to get 2400 nails into a 3 sq ft slab of wood in 3 hours, I gained new compassion for workers who earn their wages by doing jobs of repetitive motion:

the strawberry picker
the assembly line worker
the ditch digger
the factory seamstress
and many many others

Hard physical labor involving one part of the body doing the same movement over and over takes a toll on the whole. In simply hammering nails into wood, i would begin quite strong, but well-paced. Pick up a nail with the right hand. Stand it up on the wood. Bang it 3 to 4 times with the hammer in my strong left hand. Then I'd do it again. Easy. However, after about 50 nails, the hammer grew heavier. So i had 4 hammers to try -- all of differing weights. Of course one worked better for large nails. One, better for smaller nails.

Initially, I felt that the work would require the sheer strength of my fingers, hands and arms. However, performing the simple physical task of repeatedly hammering nails into wood reminds me of the body's interconnectedness. After 30 minutes, i could feel pressure in my upper left shoulder, which affected my posture and lower back an hour later. All of this work is done standing and, after a while, the body must shift the weight from the left leg to the right. And back to the left again. Then balance the stress equally on both legs. After 2 1/2 hours, I became aware of the fatigue setting in my feet and knees and their contribution to holding up all this activity.

What keeps me going is a meditation on a people and a place that i have no real, tangible connection with yet. Also, certain types of music inspire me while i work. I often play lots of music in the spanish language. And, though i don't completely understand these songs without sitting w/the english translations, certain familiar words that i do know would soar over my pounding:

"violencias" -- violence
"multitudes" -- multitudes
"defender" -- defend
"corazon" -- heart
"libertades" -- liberties
"la tierra" -- the earth
"injusticias" -- injustices
"innocencia" -- innocent

...and while those words rang in my ears, i bandaged a few fingers, put on fingerless work gloves, grabbed hold of the hammer and kept going. and i'll keep going.