The Forks Matter
and 3 thoughts.
Shards — three tiny thoughts
The right book is creatine for your creativity.
--
(Note to self)
Writing late at night steals from tomorrow’s sharpness. When you feel you’re missing a step, you’re just missing sleep.
--
“If it were easy to make, there’d be no point in making it.”
--
That last one is said by Eric Vedder in the latest episode of The War with Art. It’s a whole episode on the Inner Critic. You can check it out anywhere you get your podcasts or right from the site itself.
and now for something a little different….
Forks
A man in his mid-forties, tall and a bit scruffy, squints as he enters an eye-searing, white kitchen. It’s absolutely gorgeous—the heart of a Michelin three-star restaurant. His eyes adjust, and he focuses on the rectangular clock at the far end.
5:47 a.m.
Directly under it, a slogan is written: EVERY SECOND COUNTS.
A door opens behind him. In walks another man, half his age, dressed in a smart black suit.
“Forks,” the suited man says—a terse greeting.
“No, I’m Richie,” Richie answers.
“I understand. I’m Garrett, back wait staff. You’re forks. Change your shirt.”
Ritchie begins to polish the endless trays of forks…
No, I’m not trying to land a gig novelizing The Bear, but I do want to talk about this episode: “Forks.” I watched a slew of movies and tv over the winter break, and this is what I keep coming back to.
The core message is clear: Even the smallest things matter in great work. “Forks” is about fine dining—the kind where streakless forks and flawless plates are non-negotiable. Details, details, details. You could show this episode to someone who’s never seen The Bear and they’d think it was great on its own.
But it’s not on its own. It’s a single episode in a season, and what came before is what lets every silence, every facial expression, every change in Richie mean something deeper. I could go on about all the genius here—Richie at a fork in the road, forks as weapons in the family fight, forks invisible when set properly—but that’s easy to see.
What’s a bit harder to see is the nuance in the lessons. It seems like it’s teaching:
Work ethic
Hustle, hustle, hustle faster.
Do the small things well
And sure, fine. But this isn’t about doing more. It’s about choosing to care. And care comes from taking the work seriously.
Later in the episode, Garrett gives Richie this speech:
GARRETT: I don’t know, man, because…A couple of years ago, I had a drinking problem. And I got sober. I’m good now, you know, like I feel healthy and I’m happy and I’m grateful. And through that experience, I learned about acts of service and… I just like being able to serve other people now. You know?
RITCHIE: Service.
GARRETT: Yeah. You know, I used to work for this guy who used to say that taking care of people at the highest level was like working at a hospital. You know, like it was like medi--
RITCHIE: Okay. That’s a little much.
GARRETT: I’m just saying, I think that’s why restaurants and hospitals use the same word, “hospitality.”
RITCHIE: Yeah, no shit.
This feels like it’s straight out of a book like Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara, and obviously echoes 12-step program philosophy. But more than that, it reframes everything.
The forks aren’t polished to perfection because of some abstract standard of excellence—they’re perfect because someone deserves them to be. The details matter because there’s a person on the other side.
When you see it through care instead of grind, the whole thing shifts. Learning the boring stuff isn’t about work ethic—it’s about respecting your audience enough to be competent. Showing up every day isn’t hustle—it’s proof you take your art and audience seriously. And doing the small things well? That’s just what you do when someone matters to you.
So now I sit and think: What’s the small thing that I’m not taking seriously? That I’m not caring enough about?
What about you?
S.M.
P.S. Aardehn: Awakening is so close to finish I can taste it (and probably means I get one more chance to make new edits). Expect big news soon from Eric and join me in cheering him on as he finishes the last few pieces of art!
—