Putting A Shine On It.

   I took the opportunity today to give my bike some TLC. My many rides have resulted in much road grime and bugs forming a thick layer over the thing of beauty that lies underneath. For those of you that think a motorcycle is a 10 minute cleaning job, think again.

   First you have to remove that thick layer of bug debris that has become a hardened crust on the front of the bike. Then you need to wash and rinse the bike to remove all the other dirt. Then, if you are perhaps a little bit anal about the shine on your bike to do another round of cleaning using clay and lubricant to get that last layer of dirt and bring out the natural shine in your paint. After that comes the chrome polish and the wax. None of this is quick and easy as the many nooks and crannys are difficult to get at. And I haven't even touched the leather yet. Patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to cleaning and polishing a motorcycle but it is a virtue that I need much training in anyways.

   As I spent this time I noticed every little scratch in the paint, every spot the chrome has pitted and rust is taking its death grip, every dent the hail has left, every flaw. To anyone else that looks at my bike, especially after it has been cleaned up, it is a truly beautiful machine. All that polish and wax gives it an appearance of near perfection. But the truth is underneath that polish is something that needs a lot more TLC.

   What does the condition of my bike have to with anything other than my obvious anal fixation on the condition of my bike. Probably nothing, but it occurred to me as I caressed the wax into the curves of my bike just how similar this was to how I presented my life to others. I put on a polish of sorts, covering up the scratches and damage that lied underneath, eating away at the foundation. What others saw was what I wanted them to see, not the reality of the situation. Of course it makes it all the more easy to conceal the problems you are living through when most of society prefers to look at the world through rose coloured stain glass windows, never wanting to see the “bad” stuff.

   As I try to understand this journey I am on it leads me to stories of others in similar situations. Family and friends of people who are hoarding horses, cats, or any of a variety of animals. Men and women who are being assaulted by their spouses and are in deep in domestic abuse situations. In all these cases the people involved step out into the world with a polish on them that covers the sad, disturbing realities they are trying to live through. Unfortunately this only allows the problems to persist, and often even become worse because of its concealment, but when you are on the inside you don't always see this.

   But how many of do this same thing in our daily lives. We find ourselves with a choice to make that involves accepting something we don't really like to get something we really do like and rather than acknowledging there are problems we put a polish on them, a shine that covers the reality of the situation. Sure, life is about compromises, but a compromise isn't really a compromise if you just pretend everything is okay. No amount of spit & shine can erase the reality of a situation and acknowledging that reality is often the only real path to success.

   As for my motorbike, I do acknowledge the scratches and dings that the wax conceals, but she has earned everyone of those "worry lines" as she carries me through this journey.