Bricks

I was driving with my son on Wednesday morning on a two lane portion of highway near my home when I caught a large pothole with my right front tire. I was able to glimpse the pothole before going through it and noticed that instead of being full of Florida mud and deep enough to damage my car, it was exposing the old brick road that had been there since 1945.

My car glided smoothly over the solid old bricks and I continued on my way. I turned to my son and asked if he saw the bricks. He had. I explained to him that those bricks have been there since before his grandparents were born, and commented on how interesting it is that our modern construction methods are so quick to degrade and give way, but there is still an old solid brick road below just waiting to catch us.

He asked me:

"Why would they ever cover it up if it's so strong that it's still there?"

I struggled for an answer.

Why would we cover up these beautiful, strong, supportive, resilient things. They have character and strength 70 years after being laid and are still holding up the modern rock pudding that I've seen replaced a dozen times growing up in this city. There are other, lower traffic parts of historic downtown that kept the bricks exposed, so acknowledging their worth does't seem to be the problem.

So why?

I was quiet for a minute, thinking it over in my mind when he prompted me back to reality.

"Daaad?"

I had to answer, and so I made my best guess.

"Because. my boy... I guess people wanted to go faster and didn't like the noise they make or the way they made their cars shake... Because they wanted to go faster."

Yes, I really said "my boy". It seemed appropriate since we were talking about a road that existed when other dads probably addressed their sons in this manner.

Those bricks reminded me of this article. I recommend you take a moment to read it.

The asphalt is nothing more than a life hack. Something convenient, fast, smooth. But that asphalt gave way after only a few years of traffic.

By contrast, bricks are tedious. They take time to lay and they aren't as comfortable to coast over on our quest to get from one air conditioned box to another as quickly as possible in our rolling entertainment centers.

I'm sure the men who put that road there cursed every brick. I'm sure they bled. I'm sure most of those men are dead by now. But those bricks are solid and have proven themselves. They are time tested, and that is beautiful. Those bricks are still there.

Those bricks, put there 38 years before I was even an idea kept me from popping a tire.


I borrowed the image of bricks under asphalt from this blogger. I hope they don't mind.