I want to tell you all a story about a boy named Jason. It may be a little long, but hopefully it will click with some of you. When Jason was 14, he was given a beautiful car by his grandfather, a ’67 Camaro. He had treasured that car since he was a young boy, and he knew he’d be able to drive it in just two years. Every week he would wash it, sit in the driver’s seat, and imagine how incredible it was going to be traveling through life in it. Then, when he was 16, he got behind the wheel and started living his dream. It was perfect, beautiful, fast, everything he dreamt it would be. But after a couple years he stopped washing it every week. He took it down gravel roads and would come home with a new ding or two. He slowly just took it for granted. Years went by and one day he went out to his beautiful car and he realized that rust and neglect had made it into a shell of what it once was. He washed it, but the shine he remembered wasn’t there. He changed the oil, but the rev of the engine didn’t sound like it used to. It occurred to him that he had all but ruined the treasure he was given. And he didn’t know what to do. He talked to several body shops and mechanics to find out what could be done to bring back the glory of his beautiful car. Jason found one that told him he could do some of the major work, and then he would show Jason how to do the rest. So that body shop fixed the dings and buffed out the scratches, and showed Jason how to make the engine run like new. So Jason drove his beauty out of that lot and took it down the road. It kind of looked like it used to - it didn’t have the same shine, but it was kind of close. And Jason planned on taking it home and following the instructions to fix the engine. But life was busy and stressful, and his plans got put off again and again. Jason’s friends saw the new look of his car and encouraged him to take it out just one more time down the gravel road - what could it hurt? And that one time led to another, which led to another, and pretty soon all the dings and scratches were back. Jason was so discouraged with his decisions that he didn’t even try to fix his Camaro again for a couple more years. But the memories of what once was came flooding back again and Jason was determined to make his car as good as new. This time he went to a brand new, exciting, technology driven body shop. They could fix everything, for a pretty hefty price, and it would look absolutely amazing almost overnight. However ... he would have to drive his car exactly how they told him, use their oil, clean with their soap, and only drive it when they said it was okay. Jason thought it was worth it, so he paid their fee and almost overnight he had his dream car back the way he had remembered. A week after he got the car back he went a little faster than what he was told was allowed, and the bumper fell off. He washed it with his soap and the paint peeled off. He filled it with his gas and the engine stopped running smoothly. He was so disheartened that he called his friends, jumped in the car, and headed for the gravel roads again. Then, one day, Jason was told about an old, wise, handsome, humble, bald mechanic who had done good work on lots of other cars of different makes and sizes. So Jason went to see him. He told the mechanic his story. He told him how great his car used to be and how he wanted it to be that way agin. He said he would do anything to have his car back to the dream it once was. “Stop driving it down dirt roads,” the wise mechanic said. “But I have always gone down those roads! It’s SO fun!” “Then expect your car to have dings.” “But my friends will call me and ask me to go down those roads because they love it too!” “Then have them drive - they can ruin their car, they have no right to tell you how to drive yours.” “But ... then where can I drive?!” “There are so many roads in this world, roads you’ve never taken before, roads that are just as fun without ruining what you have treasured. If you drive the same road your whole life - you’re never going to get anywhere.” So Jason let the wise, humble, funny, stunningly good looking (whilest still being approachable) mechanic work on his car - but he made Jason work on it with him. It wasn’t fixed overnight, in fact it took months to make the car look and drive the way it had in its glory days. And, truthfully, it never got exactly back to the way it once was, but it was pretty damn close. Close enough that, once it was done, everyone who saw it was amazed and impressed. Some of his friend were even a little jealous - and those friends encouraged him to take it for one last drive down the gravel road. But Jason had learned that was a road he could never take again. And he also realized it really wasn’t as fun as he thought it was - in fact, he looked at it as reckless and irresponsible now. Nothing was going to take his dream car away ever again. Now I won’t say that Jason never went down a bumpy road or two from that point on. But when he did, he knew to turn around and avoid that road next time. And his car remained beautiful for years and years and years. And he also realized he taught his kids how to drive and respect their own cars - regardless of the make or size of their vehicle. Sometimes he needed to go back to the wise, yada yada yada, mechanic when he got a ding, and he’d always feel nervous that the mechanic would be disappointed. But, to his surprise, the mechanic was always understanding. One day Jason asked, “you’ve helped me with this car a handful of times, and you never get upset when I bring it back with a ding. Why is that?” “You have no idea the roads I’ve driven, son. We all have our journeys. I’d only be disappointed if you stopped wanting it to be fixed.” - :)
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 02:24:38 +0000
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