Recently, I was on the highway and spotted the little blips of paint separating the lanes.

We’ve all seen them plenty over the years, but I took notice this time. As I thought about those dashed boundaries, I had an epiphany:

Those white lines connect everything in the world.

Allow me to explain.

Start with the Paint

I would imagine that different types of paint are used based on the demands of the weather. However, we’re not worried about that. We’re only discussing the paint in general—that stuff most of us fingerpainted with or splashed over a bedroom wall.

You see, someone had to invent the stuff. Of course, that would take some time and ingenuity, but let’s imagine the inventor came up with it in a bolt of inspiration. Poof! Done.

Then the paint-making process would need to be developed. Yipes. That would also take more time and ingenuity, but let’s concede that point to speed this along. Poof! Done. We’re cooking now!

Now, we need a factory to house the production process. Before anyone could build the factory to make the paint, an architect had to draw the plans for the building. We just can’t poof an architect into existence. That’s a person, and an architect must go to college to learn how to draw those plans.

And before the architect attended college, she went to high school, middle school, and elementary, too. And before the architect could attend any of those schools, she was probably born in a hospital.

Before the architect could be born in a hospital or attend those schools before college, someone else had to build those buildings. This means MORE architects and MORE colleges and MORE schools and MORE hospitals. Good Lord! It’s a crazy cycle of buildings and architects.

But I’m forgetting all the stuff needed inside those buildings.

Let’s think about that simple desk our young architect used in elementary school.

Someone had to design it. Those things just don’t poof into existence as our road paint did.

Then someone had to invent the factory process for desk building.

After that, they needed a factory for the process. Oh, Lord. We’re back to the architects again, and we’re only talking about elementary school desks.

What about blackboards and chalk and erasers? And the paper, pencils, and books the kids used?

Somebody had to design those products, create processes to make them, then build factories which meant—you guessed it—MORE architects.

If you don’t like architects, let’s talk about contractors. Contractors are involved in every step of this process, too. Every tool a contractor uses would need to have been designed, a process put into place to replicate them, a factory created to implement the method, and—darn it! We’re back to the architects.

Okay, I’m kidding about the architects. Sometimes they’re the only ones that get paid in a deal, but they’re fine people.

But you see my point, right? Just to make some paint took an endless stream of people, materials, and education.

Wow. Crazy, right?

Wait. What do we put the paint in?

Here We Go Again

The process I explained above would replicate itself for the paint can.

But here’s something I hadn’t thought of before. Where do the materials come from? Paint cans are aluminum, right?

Aluminum comes from bauxite which needs to be mined, and then a chemical process is used to extract alumina from it.

So, the mining equipment would need to be designed. A process would need to be created to make the equipment. Another factory would need to be built. Let’s not talk about architects anymore. Let’s skip to a city planner who needs to approve those factory plans, and those guys sit comfortably in a city department somewhere.

Another building to construct!

Okay, let’s stop worrying about the goop that goes on the road and start thinking about the road marking machine—the big vehicle that moves slowly down the highway painting the lines. Every piece on the engine, every nut and bolt, the tires—all items had to go through the above process. When I stop to think about how much work went into that simple white line, it’s enough to make my head explode.

Here’s a new thought—who came up with the idea of the dashed white line? In other words, who decided that a simple line would separate cars and keep us safe? Someone had to dream that up. Then someone else had to codify the darn thing into a municipality somewhere. Then a driver’s education teacher somewhere had to teach it to a roomful of pimply-faced teenagers.

Designing white lines, codifying legislation, and teaching driver’s education took buildings, contractors, and city planners. We’re not even mentioning those darn architects anymore. They’ve already been paid and run off to Tahiti somewhere.

Yet the white lines with their state and federal codes are worthless without a roadway full of cars—all of which still need to be designed, built and—well, you get the point.

What’s Missing?

We’ve talked about the buildings, the systems, and the processes needed to get there, but think of the people involved.

Let’s go back to that first architect. Assume she’s thirty years old. That’s three decades of eating. A lot of people from a lot of places helped food reach her table.

I bet she likes papaya. That’s from Central America.

She’s probably eaten a date or two. Those come from the Middle East.

We know she likes pizza (because who doesn’t), and pizza comes from New York. Just kidding. It’s deep dish, so it comes from Chicago. And yes, I know it’s originally from Italy.

What about the planes, trucks, warehouses, restaurants, and grocery stores that held that food before she got it?

So, thirty years of support and food got our architect to the point where she’s ready to design a paint factory.

But she didn’t come into existence on her own. She had parents who had parents, and so on. Just so our architect could draw a building to house the production process for some highway paint to draw a little dashed line to keep two cars from violently smashing into each other.

Isn’t that crazy?

Nothing Happens Until Something is Sold

How could I forget the sales team? Here I am talking about architects, contractors, and city planners, but I didn’t mention a salesperson anywhere.

Even if the government seized the land through eminent domain, someone needed to purchase the paint, the road-marking machines, and more.

Taking a step further back, someone needed to buy the construction supplies to build the factories that made the paint or constructed the road-marking machines. Making one more leap back, someone probably had to sell some land so a factory could be built.

And all those salespeople needed a place to grow up, food to eat, schools to attend, and desks to sit at.

Wait! Another thought. Salespeople wear clothes!

So do architects, contractors, and city planners.

Where do all those clothes come from? Argh! It never stops.

You see? I’m right.

Everything is connected to that little white line on the road.