Bolt II: Leave It Better
Commentary
We don't really own anything. We just borrow things from the world while we live, and then they pass on to somewhere or someone else when we die. Leave it better for the next person. Clean more than the mess you made. Organize the neighboring tools or materials - just a bit. It doesn't have to be much, but leaving it even a little better is an act of will to transform the world. Making the world as it should be, not as it is.
What is the worth of something that anyone can use whenever they want? It has no scarcity, except for its own existence. By the time the precious forest or river or workshop requires the bureaucracy of stewardship, it has already been abused, and is not what it used to be. Everyone is poorer for it except the few who saw a rare opportunity in front of them. This is a natural motivation, which requires an unnatural custodianship. We could deplete it, but we do not.
When we leave it better, we can arrest the relentless need for the new. We can use the care-worn tools with their histories and patinas intact. They become improved by their use with stories and show the scars of their labor.
We must leave it better, even though we may not personally benefit. We know that if everyone does this, it all works and the world is genuinely a better place. And if one person stops, then it is that much more likely that so will the one who follows. And like a slow blight, the mindset of everyone changes - instead of leaving it better for others, we get ours while we still can.
Previous Thoughts:
This principal of cleaning up after yourself is crucial for the commons. Knolling was memorable and cute, but is it enough? I think that the patron saint of a well kept space (Libty Fiats) must be the dominant energy. Even more than making and creating.
Additionally, this covers "Reset" as well as "Always be Knolling". Along with the principal of being thorough (changed to "Sweat the Details"), the bolts have good coverage over what it means to always be knolling. However... None of the bullets cover "being nice to others", and that's on-brand, but an oversight for the Bolts. We can replace Reset with that.
I do like Knolling, it's fun and quirky, but if you "leave it better than you found it" an d "sweat the details", you are probably covered. We can refer to Knolling in the body of Bolt 2 as a method of leaving things better than you found them.