The meaning of dirty dishes

This last week meant a return to school for me.

Indeed, my whole being has been engrossed in seemingly never-ending intellectual pursuits that I can't seem to wholly understand or rationalize their usefulness. Does this sentence give you a hint that I am a confused, overwhelmed, English major, struggling to understand Foucault, with enough wits to make myself sound less intelligent than my $15,000 education should really boast?

Anyways, the bottom line is that I have done a lot of thinking this past week.

Thinking which may have regressed my intelligence rather than progressed it.

And yet, in this mode of overly analytical thought, I have made a few overly analytical observations about my more humble, non-academic life, namely the subject of dirty dishes.

Have you ever pondered on the inner meaning of dirty dishes? I mean to say, dirty dishes that have sat in your sink for hours...dish upon dish upon tray upon bowl upon your last precious Wedding glass...just waiting to be washed and returned to their former state of glory?

Now, if your standard of domestic cleanliness is such that you have never experienced this before, I congratulate you. I also understand if you have no further use for my silly analysis.

But, if you can relate with me on this premise then let's explore this idea a little further.

Why do we not wash dirty dishes? Why do we loathe them? Why do we actually continue to pile more dirty dishes upon those already there, thus threatening the physical safety of all?

Here's why:

We don't wash them because it is work and work is hard.

We loathe them because we know they will always be there unless we engage in work.

We continue to add more dirty dishes because as we cannot use them, we must use others in their place, and so we continue to make more and more dirty dishes AND they pile up BECAUSE to wash the "new" dirty dishes would only involve also washing the "old" dirty dishes WHICH would essentially be exponentially more work.

Follow me? Okay.

Now here is how this all relates to LIFE.

Dirty dishes can be likened to every task in which we procrastinate doing because we are either 1) lazy, 2) afraid, or 3) burnt out.

As I looked at my dishes today (admittedly they are only 1 day old...but to my the credit of my analysis I have gone MUCH longer without doing them), I realized that I am avoiding them like I am perhaps avoiding other things in life. In some things I don't do because I am lazy (dare I say visiting teaching?!), or afraid (living a simpler life?) or burnt out (how about being sweet to my sweetheart?)

The truth is, at least for me, I do not want to have dirty dishes in my sink. I want clean dishes.

Likewise, I do not want to be lazy, afraid, or burnt out. I want to be ambitious, hopeful, and passionate about life. But how does one get there?

As with all profound questions in life, I don't completely know. Sure I know the end result that I want, but I don't necessarily know the "how to." But since I am boasting of my overly analytical, under-ly practical skills today, I am going to take a crack at it.

We clean dishes one step at a time. A little cliche, I know.

First we prepare. We fill the sink with soap and water.

Next we place the dishes in the sink AT THE CAPACITY in which the sink will handle.

Next we scrub.

Then we rinse, dry, and place neatly in the cabinet.

Simple right?

Now let's compare this to our symbolic dirty dishes.

First we prepare. We make the necessary arrangements so that our work will be smooth and productive...like, maybe find out who we visit teach?

Next, we work according to our capacity...you know don't take on more than you can handle or if you do, ask the Lord for help?

Next, is the hardest past. We remove the filth or obstacles to our success..like if I wanted to simplify my life, I would finally get rid of those jeans I haven't been able to fit since I WAS fit and young and all of 16.

Now we are on the down-hill side of this dirty dishes/improving our lives business. We give everything we do our last effort for success...like me using a pleasant, sweet tone of voice always when talking to J, right?

If you have endured thus far, I congratulate you for your patience...or maybe it is curiosity? Either way, here concludes my grammatically and conceptually inconsistent (I am sure it is) analysis:

Dirty Dishes = Unhappiness

Ambition + Hope + Passion + A Lot of Work = Clean Dishes

--A