Whit's Wisdom

Sometimes It's Best to SHOW the Dirt!

This is Labor Day weekend, which we all know means wear those white shoes and shorts and pants all weekend because by Tuesday they should be packed up for the Winter!  Right?  I still wonder where this came from and why....the why being "Why do we still even think about this and pass it along to our children?"   This really has nothing to do with my wisdom today - I just sometimes get sidetracked....

Have you ever gone car shopping with someone and you set your sights on a beautiful white ____ (insert dream vehicle here)?  This phrase will inevitably pop out of your friend's mouth:  "Don't get white!  It shows dirt!"  I would honestly think that automakers would simply stop making white vehicles because of the stigma associated with the color white.  Dirt is generally a dark color - - - white is a light color....when dirt gets on white then you can see the dark stuff on the light stuff.  Duh.

The phrase that should be spoken is more like this:  "Don't get white!  You aren't going to get to be LAZY!"  Aaaah, now you see where I'm headed.

We painted my kitchen this Spring. We painted the cabinets white, put up white bead board around the entire kitchen, have a white refrigerator and stove, and I bought a white garbage can.  And dangit, it definitely shows the dirt!  But this forces me to keep it clean!  I have to wipe down the cabinets at least once a week.  The stove, ugh, 5 times a day it feels like, the baseboards and walls get a good once over at least every couple of weeks, and the refrigerator and garbage can is on a visual basis (so, yeah....everyday.)  I don't like to do this.    I don't enjoy cleaning.  But if I didn't have white, do you know how nasty that kitchen might be?  If it 'didn't show the dirt' I might never think to clean it!  

Now, you all might be thinking "ooooh, nasty" but I'm just telling the truth.  If we SEE dirt we clean it.  If something doesn't look dirty we don't think about it....or we put it off.  Out of sight - out of mind.  And dirt begats germs.  And germs begat colds and flu.  And flu  begat children staying home from school.  Do you WANT your children staying home from school????  (If you are an empty nester, just replace children with spouse.)

So go ahead -  buy that white whatever!  And enjoy it - and keep it clean - and feel free to use it AFTER Labor Day!!

This is MY dream vehicle