on my slow days, I sit and watch my clothes wash

I sat on my floor listening to my dishwasher wash my dishes while eating the cold leftovers from tonight's dinner. It made me think...

What is the life of a dishwasher?

We go to the store and buy it, brand new, when the old one dies and quits working. We bring it home, install it, read the instruction book and treat it like gold because it's the newest thing in the house; it's quiet, it's efficient, and the dishes come out looking brand new too.

All it does is wash dishes. Over and over. Day after day. Why then does it break down? It was only doing what we told it to do, what it was made to do. So we send it to the repair shop and get it fixed, repaired, retrained to again wash more and more dishes in its quiet efficient way. It comes back nearly as good as new.

So we continue to use it. Again and again, day after day, year after year, it washes the dishes it was made to wash, until that final day when it washes its last dish and doesn't turn on to be quiet and efficient anymore. This is the day when the once brand new dishwasher becomes the old one that dies and needs replacing.

It's the same with any appliance when you think about it. The old one dies, we buy a brand new one, we wear it out, we throw it away and buy a new one to replace it.

Too bad that our human bodies are not the same.
We only get one shot with the body we've got.

We can't go and buy new pieces and parts when our originals get tired and strained and weak and broken. It's too bad I can't replace what I've broken and cut and torn and fried and ruined in all my stupid days and late nights and emotional breakdowns....

But we learn to live with what we still have.
We must take care of ourselves
If we wish to continue to live life
To the best of our abilities.

We must up keep our bodies
If we wish to keep up with our dreams.