Saturday, June 10, 2017

The Truck's Check Engine Light

My father, prior to his death, gave his 1995 Chevrolet S-10 pick-up to our son. That son recently purchased a new car so the pick-up will now be mine. The pickup has a lot of miles on it. I'm sure that I don't ever want to get too far out of town with it. The truck has a lot of rust spots. The spare tire, which used to be kept by a cable under the truck bed, fell off in the middle of a busy intersection a few weeks ago. Rust had finally eaten through the cable. The pick-up has a clutch and stick shift so neighbors who've asked to borrow it, come back to the house saying, "I don't know how to drive that." For sentimental reasons as well as my belief that every family needs an old truck--you never know when you, family or a friend might need it, so I'll keep it. A colleague and I recently used the truck to carry some furniture to his Church. As we loaded the furniture two small rusted parts seemed to fall out of under the bed, but we couldn't see what they were so we went on. As we drove to his Church, the truck began making a squeaking noise but it stopped by the time we reached the Church. On the return trip the "Check Engine" warning light came on, so we slowed down. That warning light went off before we got back to the house. Maybe the old truck fixed itself or perhaps it was just reminding me to slow down because it didn't want to go so fast. Most of us need a personal "Check Engine" warning light to remind us to slow down. Maybe we already have those "Check engine" warning lights but we don't recognize them. Anger, anxiety, confusion, forgetfulness, hurriedness, obsessed with work, too much time on the phone or computer, etc., could these things possibly beT a "Check Engine" warning light?

No comments:

Post a Comment