its a beautiful day in the neighborhood..wont u be mine?
I have a neighbor who is off her meds..literally and therefore to quote my other neighbor "that girl is an oddball!"
and that she is. She is an artist and she lives by herself and it does not seem that there is much that occupies her time. But there is one exception; her car.
She spends hours upon hours upon hours..waxing..cleaning.inside..outside..i didn't even realize it was possible to spend that much time cleaning her car. Its not like she ever drives it anywhere and not like its an incredible car that deserves such lavish attention. Its not a Porsche, its not a classic Caddie, its not even a Lexus. It is a regular old Honda sedan. This time, though she has taken it to an all new level of OCD.
Now that she has spent all that time washing and waxing the car that she never drives..she decided that it may behoove her to put a plastic cover on her car so that her efforts will not be ruined by a freak storm or the like. OK..that is understandable. The mind boggling part is that she has taken TO WASHING THE PLASTIC. I mean literally standing there day after day with a rag and a bottle of some cleansing product cleaning.
The main thought that kept running through my head as the insanity of the situation kept blowing my mind was..but its not even that nice of a car...(think joey and the Porsche) Why all the effort?
As i was driving down the windy road to work, the thought for this post started formulating. Why does it have to be that nice of anything for you to have to take care of it. If someone has a 5 dollar jacket do you treat it any differently than a $100 one? Most people usually take the route of ..well if its cheap than i don't have to be that careful with it..i know i do..for in my mind its easily replaceable.
but the truth is everything that we have has value and we should appreciate and take care of it as such. and who says that just because its not a Beamer that it doesn't have value to her. One man's trash is another's treasure right? To someone else it may be nothing to but to the owner.."ayzeh why why"
The other though that occurred to me is that as growing, spiritual people who strive to be holy, we spend hours cleaning our neshama, we scrub, we polish, and we make sure that its sparkling..but if its not protected from the elements then its not long before its scuffed up again and you would never know the glow it exuded merely moments before.
In protecting our neshama, we have to clean it, protect it..and make sure that even what protects it is clean. Is your haven, where you go to escape the world clean? Just as we must make sure that the actual car is shining we must make sure that the surrounding areas ..to quote miss hannegan "shine like the top of the Chrysler building.."
and that she is. She is an artist and she lives by herself and it does not seem that there is much that occupies her time. But there is one exception; her car.
She spends hours upon hours upon hours..waxing..cleaning.inside..outside..i didn't even realize it was possible to spend that much time cleaning her car. Its not like she ever drives it anywhere and not like its an incredible car that deserves such lavish attention. Its not a Porsche, its not a classic Caddie, its not even a Lexus. It is a regular old Honda sedan. This time, though she has taken it to an all new level of OCD.
Now that she has spent all that time washing and waxing the car that she never drives..she decided that it may behoove her to put a plastic cover on her car so that her efforts will not be ruined by a freak storm or the like. OK..that is understandable. The mind boggling part is that she has taken TO WASHING THE PLASTIC. I mean literally standing there day after day with a rag and a bottle of some cleansing product cleaning.
The main thought that kept running through my head as the insanity of the situation kept blowing my mind was..but its not even that nice of a car...(think joey and the Porsche) Why all the effort?
As i was driving down the windy road to work, the thought for this post started formulating. Why does it have to be that nice of anything for you to have to take care of it. If someone has a 5 dollar jacket do you treat it any differently than a $100 one? Most people usually take the route of ..well if its cheap than i don't have to be that careful with it..i know i do..for in my mind its easily replaceable.
but the truth is everything that we have has value and we should appreciate and take care of it as such. and who says that just because its not a Beamer that it doesn't have value to her. One man's trash is another's treasure right? To someone else it may be nothing to but to the owner.."ayzeh why why"
The other though that occurred to me is that as growing, spiritual people who strive to be holy, we spend hours cleaning our neshama, we scrub, we polish, and we make sure that its sparkling..but if its not protected from the elements then its not long before its scuffed up again and you would never know the glow it exuded merely moments before.
In protecting our neshama, we have to clean it, protect it..and make sure that even what protects it is clean. Is your haven, where you go to escape the world clean? Just as we must make sure that the actual car is shining we must make sure that the surrounding areas ..to quote miss hannegan "shine like the top of the Chrysler building.."
I love the way you take a lesson from everything. It's true that everything has value - even those little things.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of when I go shopping for groceries and check to make sure I saved those last 10 cents on the cheaper brand of a product that's quality is just the same (think, four choices of corn flake crumbs, three types of cherry pie filling...) but I'm a saver by nature! Aren't we all?
And I love your last point-how we have to make sure that our "escapes"-the things we do/places we go to take a "break" should also be clean, this way our insides, our neshamos will stay pure and clean!
I'm so glad I found your blog! I love each and every post!
DevorAH- you are really sweet, thanks for visiting..hope you have a great week..shavua tov!
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