In the novel I'm reading, there's a minor character, a doctor on the mediterranean island of Smyrna, and refugees are pouring into such places from Turkey. This doctor hasn't got much to his name but one of the refugees comes across his path and he ends up giving him treatment and a little money for bread. How great it is to have a skill like that, one that is useful in any place in the world, and all you have to do is practice your art to repair the world around you. "Every act of building is an act of repair," said Christopher Alexander.

The merchant is rich, and also homeless, I think. Hotels, rather, are his homes, and he doesn't shave because he's always travelling. But what does a merchant do? Buys things. Goes somewhere. Sells things. The merchant isn't special, doesn't have any unusual ablities. Doesn't really "work." Just finds time to buy things, take them elsewhere, sell them. What a waste. Isn't it?