August 15, 2007
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Maintenance needed, Prepare to Die…OR…I could die of WHAT?!?!
I have a short conversation in my office this afternoon about a colleague that died recently. “How did it happen? Why did he die?” We are past the sobbing and wallowing, so these are more direct factual questions and not the dramatic versions heard closer to the event itself. Really, we ask, how did he die? And why, exactly? It’s an odd conversation spreading essentially useless information to curious persons.
My day moves on and later that afternoon I am driving home from work and the sun shines from behind my drivers seat, over my shoulders and onto my dashboard as I head eastbound toward home and family. This circumstance of sun on dash suddenly lights up all of the dashboard lights normally hidden in darkness until such time as a mechanical warning or crisis is imminent. The once-every-now-and-then Check Oil light has now been outclassed bya full court press of every idiot light on the panel, all illuminated at once by the stray ray of sunshine. Oil pressure, Oil service, Temperature, Brakes, ABS, Charging system, Check engine, Air bag, EMISSIONS, Fuel filter water trap, Fuel cutout, Door ajar, Maintenance required, LOW tire. All at once I am crudely shocked out of my safety zone and into the potentially dangerous region of potential dangers. Things I had forgotten were even critical parts of my automobile are now ready to leak, stick, jam, dry up, under-inflate, overheat, cutout or stop. Or in the case of brakes, stop stopping. My heart races at all of the possibilities I hadn’t considered in my driving, filling-up, cruising around contentment. So many ways my good old car could just…go kaput.
Then I remember the conversation about our friend dying, and realize this is so similar. My friend died of a rare genetic narrowing of an artery to the brain. He had a hemmorage. Certainly THAT light had never lit up the dash before. It starts the dialogue that begs the question, What else is on our dash? What are our idiot lights? That is why we ask the hard cold questions after a death. Was she sick? Is it genetic? (Could I get it, too?) Were there any symptoms? (Did her warning light stay on, ignored, for another thousand miles, because she wasn’t quite sure what it meant, and the “car” was running pretty good despite it?”)
ABS!!? I didn’t know I have Antilock Brake Systems, and if they fail, then what? There is so much more to worry about now that this is illuminated. So much can go wrong.
Narrowing arteries? I never thought a day in my life about them narrowing or fattening. If they fail, then what? There is so much more to worry about now that this is illuminated. So much can go wrong.
Sleep tight!
Kim
