How strong is your scaffolding?

As a result of my difficult childhood, I have random skills. I never wanted to do or learn any of these, but I didn’t have a choice. Looking at one of these skills now though, it made me think a little differently about life.

I walked by a construction site in Phnom Penh recently. There are many of them in this quickly changing city. I noticed the steel scaffolding and I remembered as a teenager…

It is so hot. My brother, stepfather and I are in the yard. All the scaffolding equipment is around us. We need to construct some to paint the outside of the house.

I grab the 4 steel base plates (or screw jack stands, a square metal plate with a large threaded tube coming out of it). Ours are adjustable. We place small wooden planks underneath to prevent the plates from sinking into the earth, and to start with an even foundation.

Next, we insert the standards (or uprights, vertical tubes with v shaped connector joints) into the base plates. To secure the first level, we use transoms (short horizontal tubes normally right angle shaped) and ledgers (long horizontal tubes tying the structure together). Ledgers have wedger pins at each end, and these are hammered into the transoms and standards, to create a solid structure. Sometimes the pins fit easily, other times we really have to hammer them hard.

Using the “v” pressings (v shaped joints) on the standards, we build each level up. More transoms, more ledgers. Check the pins. Hammer them in. We use longer ledgers or tubes to brace the sides diagonally too. This reinforces the entire structure.

When we reach the right height, we place a row of steel boards in the angle of the transoms - and create the platform. It’s hard work lifting all of that with my brother, some components probably about 1/3 of my weight. Finally, we scramble on to the platform to paint. And imagine our neighbours enjoying a better (non scaffolding) life…

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Back to today.

I’ve witnessed a lot of people rushing to build their scaffold of life. Higher and higher, so they can reach that platform of success. Always in a rush to start painting and move on.

Sometimes, they forget to put the wooden plank under their base. Or they use mismatched transoms or ledgers. Or they forget to brace their structure. Or they might not hammer their pins correctly.

When you look at your life and the many components in it, make your scaffolding as strong as possible. You’ll be able to reach that platform with a steady foundation in place. And you’ll be able to keep building. Up and up and up.

So, how strong is your scaffolding?