About a year ago, I told of an experience I had, and then asked you, my clever, wise and highly attractive readers, to come up with a moral for the story. (link here) I had another experience last week that calls for your input as well. What principles are exemplified? How could you use this in a lesson or a talk? Show me what you’ve got!
I was home finishing my lunch, when I heard a gentle knocking at the front door. I got up to see who it was.
A man stood there, dressed entirely in black. Black shoes, black slacks, and a tight black t-shirt. He was short – maybe 5’4″, and muscular. He was clean shaven, including his head. The only thing that was not black was a silver chain he wore around his neck, and silver rings he wore on three of his fingers. In his right hand, he held a small black bag.
This was not your average boy trying to sell magazines to keep himself “off the street.”
The man spoke. “Os-kar sent me.”
I had almost anticipated his thick accent. I stood staring at him wondering what I – a middle-aged mormon man – possibly could have done to attract the attention of the Russian Mafia.
I gathered myself and asked, “May I help you?”
“Oscar sent me to look at deesh-washer.”
“Oh!” (Lightbulb) “The dishwasher! Come right in.”
I had completely forgotten that we had scheduled an appointment for a repairman to come look at our dishwasher. I led him into the kitchen and pointed at the offending appliance.
“It makes a terrible noise, and takes hours to complete a cycle. We think it’s a bad pump.”
The man nodded, set his black bag on the floor, and knelt down next to the dishwasher. He punched a few buttons and started a cycle. It began it’s loud, growling routine. It didn’t use to be loud – it was almost silent. It is a KItchenAid dishwasher that was ridiculously expensive.
“Veery nice deeshwasher. Veery expensive.” He said.
“That’s why we are hoping we can get it repaired.” I flinched.
He stopped the cycle and said, “I look inside.”
He opened the door and started taking things apart. I went to the other side of the kitchen island to look through some mail while I was waiting. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him busily taking apart the machine.
After a couple of moments, I saw his hand reach up to the counter. Once, twice, three times. Each time he left a small round object. I walked back around to see what he had found.
He looked up at me and said, “Three cheery peets. Is what broke your deeshwasher.”
Cherry pits? My mind was trying to recall the last time we had had fresh cherries? Summer? August, perhaps? Of course my next thought was to assign blame: Which one of the kids would put cherry pits in the dishwasher? What were they thinking?
The repairman interrupted my thoughts by saying, “Not good idea to put cheery peets in deeshwasher. Peets broke pump. Veery expensive.”
“How expensive?” I flinched again.
“I don’t know. One maybe two pumps. Veery expensive. I call parts department and call back.”
“OK. Put it back together and give me a call when you get the pricing.”
He started reassembling the dishwasher, and I went to find my EC.
“Honey, good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Good news.”
“He is not here from the Russian Mafia to take me out.”
“That’s the good news? Then what’s the bad news?”
“The dishwasher pump was broken by cheery peets, and it is going to be veery expensive.”
“How expens…wait…did you say cherry pits?”
“Yup. Cheery peets.”
“I wonder which one of the boys did that. When was the last time we had cherries?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
I showed the repairman to the door, and headed back to work. The next day I got a call with the bad news. It is veery expensive.
At the end of the day, our beautiful dishwasher was rendered worthless…by three tiny cherry pits.
And thus we see…
————
(Here is a recording, in case you thought I was making this up.)
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I was thinking more along the lines of “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven” (Alma 11:37). Even 3 seemingly small cherry pits (or sins) can keep us from becoming clean and inheriting exaltation. It is SO important that we repent from all of our sins, big or small. And only the “repair man” or Jesus Christ can take away those sins so that we can be made clean. Without Jesus Christ, we are “worthless” and even “less than the dust of the earth” Helaman 12:7.
Or … don’t judge a man’s mafia status by his clothes?
Bri
Cherry pits are great things – they grow Cherry trees, if planted, watered, and given time produce more Cherries! However, in the wrong place (your dishwasher) they can cause serious damage…they are still good Cherry pits though! We are children of God and in the right places, we grow, learn, gain a testimony, become a light unto others…in the wrong places, we are still a Child of God, but we struggle with faith, we grow away from our Heavenly Father, feel lost. We need to make sure we are “in the right place”.
You could also go with something on repentance…being washed clean (those cherry pits ARE clean) but not getting out of the “cycle” of sin doesn’t do us much good. =)
Just wondering what these cherry pits are everyone is talking about. I love cherries and if you guys over in the USA have large pits full of them then I may well come and visit, although I’m not sure why you would keep three of them in a dishwasher. Over here we have to make do with small, annoying cherry pips which have a habit of blocking sinks and breaking dishwashers.
Okay, this might be a stretch in applying this to life but here it goes. It is sometimes a good thing that the dishwasher breaks down, although admittedly a nuisance. When we have areas of our life that are getting off-course, negative affects call our attention to it. Then we have to correct it, sometimes requiring the strength of the Holy Ghost — that would be Oskar. While a much more refined “fixer,” he is very qualified to tell us what we need to change. And yes, it can sometimes be very “expensive” or painful. But in the end we are all finely made dishwashers, meant to operate at our best.
Just thought of another (while reading Ether 15: 1-3 with the FOMLs tonight). Good thing MMM you did not have a high tolerance for a slow noisy dishwasher. If you had let that go on much more damage could have been done — the kitchen floor flooded. We too need to not put up with nor accept those things that prevent us from living up to our potential until the consequences are devastating. Coriantumr remembered the words of Ether much much too late, leading to the death of all his people.
Well, the moral of the story is that life really is like a bowl of cherries. Tasty while it lasts, but if you don’t dispose of your “junk” properly, it can really be the pits. (groan)
Our dishwasher gave up the ghost last month. As we had just splurged on Christmas there was no money to replace it so we have been hand washing. It has actually been nice to have time to talk to the kids as we wash and I can see why people choose to not have one. That said, a dishwasher is first on the list of items to buy when the tax return comes (which should be soon since we filed yesterday).
I’ll have to ask the salesmen if the new dishwasher can handle cheery peets.
First off, racial profiling is never a good thing. (Although seriously, “Os-kar” would have made me think mafia first thing too — I love that movie!)
Secondly, so sorry, having a broken dishwasher is the peets.
Blaming others won’t get us anywhere though.
Finally, I’m with Barbara and Micah. As Latter Day Saints we have to have finer “screens” to filter what we let into our lives because even small indulgences can lead to big consequences. Someone is going to have to pay, and it’s usually those whom we love the most.
It’s best just to consume things that don’t contain pits in the first place.
Anonymous M – Hey, you are pretty quick to blame the stoopid kids for the offending peets. Bakery pies and commercial pie fillings can also harbor an occasional pit that was missed by the machine (but three might be a stretch). As for your hasty judgment on the Russia mafia, we have one of those in our family too. Boy, is she sneaky (very beautiful too).
Or if the kids are the ones doing the dishes, which presupposes their guilt, does the fact that they have actually been doing their chores get them any protective brownie points? Brownies dissolve pretty well in water. Or have they been slacking their rinsing duties in advance of the day of judgement which will find them fined 400 dollars or a new dishwasher? I’m pretty sure it’s bad parenting to punish children for being obedient, but just not obedient enough.
Lesson: People are more important than dishwashers? Or dishwashers (children) are more important than dishwashers?
BTW, still trying to figure out if I’m clever or wise… (Highly attractive is not even on the menu…)
Lesson number one: no cherries, ever.
Lesson number two: aw, those kids…
Lesson three: For Goliath, it was little David with a rock to the forehead. For MMM it was a kid with cherries in to the dishwasher.
Lesson four: Allows for terrific philosophical discussion around sin and transgression: is igonrance of the law an excuse? Even if our actions are not viewed as “sinful” they may have consequences that are unpleasant.
Lesson five: Patience. Consequences for sin (or obedience) are often not immediate, else we would have no cause to develop faith.
Lesson six: How much is $400 in kid money? How many movies? How many video games? (How many scoop of dog poop?)
Or this problem could have been completely prevented had you followed President Hinckley’s subtle suggestion (ok, I’m not 100% sure it was a suggestion, but that’s beside the point) in his April 1993 Priesthood session talk from General Conference…
“We, of course, did not have an automatic dishwasher, except that it was our automatic duty to wash the dishes.”
Tom
Repent, get a Bosch. Veery expensive but small screen. No chance for cheery peets to get in pump. Veery quiet too, so just in case a peet does get inside, you would hear it. If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.
Nice. That cracks me up.
Nothing humorous to say for me, it’s too early. What I do think is great is how you used humor to diffuse a stressful situation (telling your wife that the Russian mafia wasn’t there to take you out). We would all do well to use humor a little more to make hard situations easier.
I remember at my dad’s funeral my mother spoke. She was telling jokes left and right. Half of the congregation thought she was nuts but that was how she was able to stay standing and keep smiling.
This is precisely why we only purchase Maraschino Cherries in our house. They don’t have any peets.
You could do something along not judging someone (you assuming the man was russian mafia) when all they are trying to do is help you :).
I like Doug and Anita’s for the main part of the story.
i kept waiting for MMM to realize it was either himself or his EC that had accidentally let a cherry pit or two (or 3) slip down the disposal…
A distinct possibility.
AND ps…..totally hate the word verification. So there’s that.
mCat, maybe you can think of word verification of the small and simple thing that will keep the peets out…just sayin’
……stupid kids ruin everything. There will be a family council and someone will need to accept responsibility. Then judgement shall come swift and heavy. I predict someone will be assigned to be on dog poop patrol until the pump is paid for. Every time the offender has to pick up a piece of crap, they can remind themselves that it was a crappy idea not to be careful about getting pits in the dishwasher.
If you don’t have a dog for the above consequence – you may send them to me. Happy to help you as always
And totally agree with anon. You just can’t have nice things until the stoooopid kids move out.
Let’s liken the cheery peets to the “little” things we are supposed to be doing: personal and family scripture study, daily prayer, temple service, etc. When we neglect them, we may not see the impact on our lives for a long time. But eventually, the damage will be done. Our testimonies will be weakened, and our families may even be in need of major repairs. Yet often the blessings for taking care of these things are subtle: increased sensitivity to the Spirit, maintaining good family relationships, strength during times of trial. We may not even realize what great blessings we have because the dishwasher never broke, so to speak. So don’t be careless with the little things, because you never know what the impact may be down the road.
Cheery peets are better than sad peets.
My brilliance amazes even myself.
Hahaha! I had to read this twice, but then I laughed out loud. (I really did, which is why I wrote it out… LOL is what I write when I didn’t really laugh out loud).
Note to self: When Jennie say LOL” she is lying. Pass it on.
…that small things (sins) from a long time ago if ignored can cause major damamge to anyone..
or
…you can’t have nice things until your kids move out..
Alma 37:6. “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.” Although we often associate “great” with “good,” great things don’t have to be good things. Great is “remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness.” Small cheery peets caused a great problem and an expensive repair.
Nicely done. You beat me to the scripture – just like in seminary!