Car Wash Therapy

October is a rainy month in the Philippines. If being drenched in the rain or getting one's shoes soaked wet are the woes of commuters, car owners complain of the frequent need to wash their vehicles. I can relate to this at a practical level. But on an emotional level, I feel quite differently.

You can call me crazy but I truly feel that washing the car is therapeutic. Okay, I admit that at first it wasn't like that. I used to think that it was such a tedious task. I would make up all possible excuses that I could come up with just so I could delay or escape the task of cleaning the car. But for the past few years, I have seen this chore in a different yet interesting way.

I love washing the car most when I'm not in a hurry. This is usually on Sundays when I take time in enjoying the sound of the water coming out from the faucet and filling up the pail, the squishing sound of the sponge as I make a lather, the somewhat hypnotic and relaxing effect of the circular motion in applying the car wax, and most importantly the happiness and fulfillment upon seeing a clean and shiny car in front of me.

After a loaded week at work, a busy schedule in school, and a crazy nightlife on weekends, this is something I look forward to. Why? Because it is somehow reassuring to know that despite the hectic schedule filled with pending projects and never-ending deadlines, somehow in this nook of my life there are simple and short-term tasks equally capable of rewarding me with fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment. I think people should not only be defined by the great feats that they accomplish but also in how they excellently carry out seemingly inconsequential tasks. Parents should be measured by how they lovlngly perform the task of driving their kids to school. Friends should be weighed not just by how many friends they have on Facebook but also by how they are willing to stick it out with a friend who is in a rut. Sons and daughters should be judged not just by the house they buy their parents but also by their effort in taking care of their fathers and mothers when the latter grow old. Spouses should be appraised not only by how well they can provide for the material needs of their partners but by the number of shared hugs, kisses, and laughters as well.

Car washing also becomes a very unlikely source of questions and answers which parallel that of real life. For instance, why do we wash cars despite the possibility of rain anytime within the day, or tomorrow, or the day after next? Why waste all that effort despite an uncertain weather? I remember an episode in Batibot where Kiko Matsing was tasked to sweep the leaves that fell from a tree but refused to do so. When asked why, he replied that he would rather wait for all the leaves to fall so he can clean the grounds one time. But we all know that it's impossible. Unless, of course, Kiko Matsing cuts or uproots the tree. The tree will continue to grow new leaves and shed old and dried ones.

And so it is with life. Why do we get up every morning? Why do we enter a new relationship one after another? Why do we play Plants and Zombies over and over again? Why do we find ourselves making a new year's resolution either on January 1 or on our birthday or on any other day of the year? I am not saying that life is nothing more than a series of disappointments after another. But I'm also not discounting the possibility that disappointments and failures do happen. What I'm emphasizing is that there will always be another day, another chance, another beginning.

I cannot be the Kiko Matsing who will wait for the time when the tree has lost its leaves. I cannot wait to wash my car when rain is no longer part of the water cycle. By then the car would be nothing except a piece of metal covered with rust and holes. In the same way, I will not wait for my life to have passed by me. Each and every day will be a new beginning. An opportunity to wash my car despite the possibility of rain. An opportunity to press on and live each day with a fresh set of eyes despite the rains of life.

Rain, bring it on!