Have you ever noticed that the dishes are never really done?
Inevitably, after they are all washed, dried, and put away, someone, perhaps you, gets hungry or thirsty again and, just like that, there are more dirty dishes in the sink.
They are not going to clean themselves.
We can tend to them one-by-one as they are used, doing our best to keep the sink bare and clean at all times.
We can ignore them and let them pile up until there are so many that we simply have to do something about it.
Or, we can shrug off responsibility altogether and hope or demand that someone else deals with this never-ending problem.
Regardless of how we choose to address the issue, there will always be one more plate, glass, or bowl to wash and this fact will be as true tomorrow and the next day as it was yesterday and is today.
If the dirty dishes are not going away no matter how many times we wash them, if they are going to be a fact of our existence for as long as our bodies need nourishment and our food requires a vessel from which to be travel between flame and mouth, why do we behave like every time we have to wash them is the first time?
Why does it seem like such a big deal?
Are our memories that poor?
Are our expectations for the future that out of touch with reality?
We have to eat, after all, if we want to survive.
We have to drink.
And, for as long as this is true, there will be dishes to wash, dry, and put away.
Dirty dishes are as much a part of our lives as the food and the drink they carry.
But, of course this is not about the dishes at all.
It is about us.
It is about how we deal with the trivial, mundane, and repetitive tasks in our lives.
We can either see them as a chore to be overcome or avoided, or we can embrace them as an opportunity to be grateful for what we have, a moment to be present, and a gift through which to find a little bit of joy and contentment in our otherwise hectic and chaotic lives.
We will never really finish washing the dishes, after all, so we may as well make the most of the experience.