I fell in love with Scotch Tape at a very early age. My young little self watched the Captain Kangaroo Show religiously, every day, in those years before I had to go to school. The antics were always shifting, from Bunny Rabbit pulling the old ping pong ball gag, to Mr. Moose spouting off some knock-knock joke.
But, there were days when the Captain would give us an art project. There, on his countertop, were various sheets of construction paper, a big pair of scissors with rounded tips, and finally, that beautiful roll of Scotch Tape. I don’t know what it was about him taping those pieces of paper together, but I was completely mesmerized.
I’d always ask my Mom if I could do the same project, but as I recall, she never let me, saying, “Waste not. Want not.” I didn’t know what the hell that meant when I was four years old. But now I can look back and see she didn’t want me burning through a roll of Scotch Tape, to put together some little sailboat.
Regardless. Those moments with Captain Kangaroo stuck with me, and to this day, when I Scotch Tape anything, I get that same feeling from when I was a kid. I won’t even buy their Magic Tape version because it isn’t the same.
These Tom Terrific intervals came racing back to my mind when I saw a note in today’s historical events. In 1930, on this date, Scotch Tape was first marketed by the 3-M Company.
That very good tape, the Scotch brand, was invented by a fellow named Richard Drew. He went to work for the 3-M company in 1923. At the time, they only made sandpaper. Now, I wonder about this. The company was located in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s cold up there. I know. I lived there for a month. There must have been a significant need for sandpaper in those parts, to start a whole manufacturing company for just that.
Anyway, this guy, Richard Drew, was product testing some of 3M’s sandpaper at a local auto body shop. He looked over and saw a couple of auto painters having a hard time making clean lines on two-color paint jobs.
It was this problem that sparked him to create the world’s first masking tape in 1925. Tape it on, paint the line, problem solved. I’m not sure how the see-through version emerged, but Drew came up with that by 1930.
I’ve often wondered how it got the name, whether it was for the country or the drink. Well, it happened when Drew was testing the masking tape at the same body shop. The painter there, trying out the tape, became frustrated. He handed him the roll and said, “Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!” No pun intended, but the name stuck.
I like masking tape well enough too. But I much prefer the clear version. Cellulose Tape is the true name for it. And all this, because that nearly invisible adhesive tape has that uncanny ability to hold things together.
We, humans, have a different version of Scotch Tape, it seems to me. There are times in our lives when things feel like they may be falling apart. Or perhaps, there are facets of us that are coming loose around the edges.
It could be anything. Perhaps our patience is worn thin. Or maybe we are depressed. Or scared. Or just plain tired. There are times in life when we suffer losses, be it a job, or a grand plan, or a person. And somewhere inside of us, we find that invisible tape to hold things together. We know it will work for a while, but eventually, that “thing” might need a bigger fix. Like duct tape. Or super glue.
I hope today, no matter what is happening in our lives, we have an ample supply of invisible tape. Enough that if we don’t need it ourselves, we can share it with others.
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“Just like there’s always time for pain, there’s always time for healing.”
― Jennifer Brown
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“The best way out is always through.”
― Robert Frost
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“Great experience is made up of challenges.”
― Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel
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Scotch on the rocks won’t hold them together
