Working With Our Hands
Sep 29, 2024 | by Claudio Salusso
I am the grandson of a ruddy, stoic Italian grandfather who crossed the Atlantic and landed in Argentina after a flipped coin steered him away from America. Nonno Benedicto Salusso used his hands to meet the world. He made his furniture, his house, a small vineyard, and taught me how to make wooden toys. I remember the drops of sweat rolling down his eyebrows as he bent over a workbench sawing wood.
Akemi San, Chako San, Ms. Yana, Ms. Melanie, Mr. Sam, and Mr. Kyle cultivate reverence for the dignity of humanity through the celebration of working with their hands. Children sense they are part of that celebration. That reverence makes their world a better, more peaceful place.
Every Saturday morning, Benedicto would collect all the kitchen knives in a box, walk outside, and sit on the lowest step of the concrete stair reaching the roof. Rough concrete is a good sharpening stone. One knife at a time, one stroke at a time, wetting the step with water from a tin-cup, nonno sharpened all the knives for a week’s work.
I am the grandson of a regal Italian matrona who crossed the Atlantic and reached Argentina on the wake of a man who flipped a coin seeking fortune away from poverty. Nonna Olimpia Rostagno used her hands to meet the world. She cooked and fed those around her.
Every Sunday morning, she would start a marinara or bolognese sauce for the rowdy midafternoon family meals. Only women were allowed in the kitchen. Men played cards, smoked, argued, laughed. Both worlds mesmerized me. At the head of the table, Olimpia ladled her sauce over plates of pasta going around. My eyes are still fixed on her hand gestures: dip, stir, lift, twist the hand pouring the sauce.
A child does not know why. They follow the needle/tread/grain/saw/chisel/shovel led by the invisible power of being in a world that simply makes sense without explanations. There is no difference between them and my nonni. When Ness and Sylvia work on their bunnies, Ethan and Ella on their wooden utensils, Charlie and Theo on their knitting, they cultivate reverence for the dignity of humanity.