There is this interesting slideshow that I received recently which started with comforting words for the lonely and lost. Watching slide after slide, I was expecting a helpline like the Befrienders at the end of the whole show only to be amused by the last slide which read ‘If no one else remembers you, the Inland Revenue Service does.’
It is that time of the year again where we have to tabulate our income earned and the claims that we can deduct. This reminds me of the time when I was asked to supply supporting proof for my income and claims for the last six years. As it is not everyday that you get selected for this task, with it came three big words: anxiety, anxiety, and anxiety (especially when some receipts were missing).
The first S.O.S. call was to friends for advice and help. Offering differing answers to my questions, I was no wiser. Like a toddler who has pushed his dinner onto the floor from his high chair, I was getting agitated. I needed someone to clear up my mess so I could go have a cup of strong tea. So entered Elvis, the tax consultant who in no few words promised to lead me to Graceland, for a fee. I was hesitant but when Elvis started to take over the documentation, he had indeed melted my wooden heart. A tidy sum in exchange for peace of mind. That confirmed that I had done the right thing when confronted with an arduous task: leave it to the experts.
How nice the world would be if there is a ‘real’ expert that you can call on for every small job in the house at a reasonable price.
Throughout the winter months, the radiators in our house were chugging sluggishly way below peak performance. We called in a few self claimed expert plumbers and they all had their theories what was wrong but none could solve the problem. It was trial and error all the way: fix this, bleed that, knock this, cut that. By the time the radiators were reasonably cured, winter was over.
As if in a sinister conspiracy with the radiators, the vacuum cleaner decided to make a lot of noise but not clean the gritty carpets which were a pure embarrassment. So we called up the electrical shops only to be told they sold vacuum cleaners but not repair them. Then someone told us that there is this man living in a big yellow house by the old church about 20 minutes drive away who used to be an expert in repairing vacuum cleaners. Now I have my doubts about lugging a heavy vacuum cleaner in search of a big yellow house by the old church about 20 minutes drive away. Worst still, he did not give me the name or house number of this elusive vacuum cleaner expert repairman.
The next best thing was to buy a new smallish vacuum cleaner which promised to do the job while the more expensive but broken one stands in the shed. Even as I am writing this, I just heard that this new three month old vacuum cleaner had decided to blow out dust instead of sucking in. So here we go again.
The word ‘malfunction’ is perhaps the most irritating word ever. We get upset when our car breaks down. We get bothered when equipment that we purchase fail us. We get heartache when we cannot glue back our favourite broken china. We get flustered when the house that we live in literally starts falling apart because of wear and tear.
But then again, Richard Carlson famously said, ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’.
Fresh food can become stale. New machines can break down in time. The underlying principle is nothing tangible lasts forever. If something can function, then it also can malfunction. If we cannot find an expert to fix a physical problem, at least no one died and it is not the end of the world.
It is not possible to keep everything in pristine condition over time. To make it easier on ourselves when something breaks down, imagine the things that are more difficult if not impossible to fix: a congenital problem, a broken heart, a loss of sanity.
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