Do You Maintain or Neglect?

 Are you maintaining well this summer? 

Recently there was a press release regarding maintenance being performed on the International Space Station.  Astronauts Luca Parmitano and Christopher Cassidy left the space station trussed up in the necessary space-walking gear, harnessed to safety cables and lifelines all for the purpose of installing power and data cables and to do other maintenance tasks to keep their temporary home safe and secure.

 In a typical day, we don’t have to go to such extreme measures to perform maintenance for ourselves.  But if you think about it, much of our life is involved with maintenance.  Not  just of our homes, cars, and lawns, but we maintain our bodies, our pets and our children; our government maintains peace with other nations, and we go about our lives in such a way as to maintain nature—hopefully. 

We should also take steps to maintain a relationship.  Or perhaps, if a relationship has failed, there could be a monthly maintenance check that is court-ordered called alimony or child support.   There are countless maintenance jobs in our society—custodians, IT techs, millwrights, building superintendents, landscapers, plumbers, car mechanics…the list goes on and on. This list also includes astronauts who live aboard the International Space Station (ISS).  “Our task was doing maintenance and repairs to keep the station in good state for the return of the shuttle flights and resumption of major ISS construction,” said Leroy Chiao – a former NASA astronaut who lived aboard the ISS for approximately 6 months in 2004-2005.  

Maintenance can also be described as a plateau you reach when striving for your goals.  “When you get to a plateau, think of it as a landing on the stairway to your goal.  And maintenance is a lifelong plateau, so a bit of ‘rehearsal’ for maintenance isn't the worst thing in the world.” Unknown.  

In the past few years, a new colloquialism has infiltrated our society that describes a person to be either high-maintenance or low maintenance.  “Guys usually know immediately that I’m high-maintenance.”  Yasmine Bleeth.  “He’s a low-maintenance guy… He takes care of his own business. You don’t have to do anything for him.” Michael Clark.  But humor and light-heartedness aside, we do need a certain amount of maintenance to keep going, and often the older we get, the more maintenance and repair we need.  All living creatures need energy and nourishment to function.   And true, some people do seem to thrive better when they are maintained with higher-end attentions. 

During the extreme temperature changes—both summer and winter—special attention needs to be paid to our homes and bodies to maintain proper health and security.  Air-conditioning, electric fans, increased fluid intake (non-caffeine drinks), and frequent rest breaks out of the direct sun are ways to maintain safety during the summer.  Our elderly population especially needs to follow these safety measures or they could at the very least land in the hospital due to dehydration.  Often the elderly also suffer from a stubborn streak so the younger generations need to make frequent spot checks on their elderly family and friends to ensure that they are maintaining well during the hottest days of summer.

 Then there is the matter of housework and yardwork.  “My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance.” Tim Allen.  I know my husband and I spend a great deal of our free time taking care of our lawn and home.  I suppose that one of the joys of condo-living would be to have that free time available for other leisure activities, but we take pride in having some space of our own to cultivate and nurture.  There is always a lot to maintain:  lawn, septic tank, gutters, pool, etc.  Even the little squirrels, chipmunks, and birds practice maintenance when they store up extra foodstuffs in the good weather in preparation for winter.  

Failure to properly maintain a vehicle can result in an unforeseen picnic along a busy highway!  Or stranded during a thunderstorm many miles from civilization. If you aren't a handy-man or a jack-of-all-trades you would be wise to enlist a mechanic to maintain your car’s wheels, tires, oil, suspension, brakes, pumps, and belts. 

“The fundamental problem with program maintenance is that fixing a defect has a substantial chance of introducing another.”  Frederick P Brooks Jr.  Oh yes, Freddy, I know exactly what you mean about that!  This morning I contacted my IT support team to help me with a little problem with my Internet Explorer, and now, six hours later, I am totally unable to access the internet or use my Outlook program!  Indeed, sometimes you wonder if maintenance is worth the effort! 

I like this quote by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: “Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”   

And on a more serious note:  “The sinews of war are five – men, money, materials, maintenance (food) and morale.”  Ernest Hemingway. 

A couple quotes on this topic of maintenance that make you go ‘Hmm?’ are from two famous Germans.  Adolf Hitler said, “We stand for the maintenance of private property.”  And Ludwig Quidde has gone down in history for saying, “Even a total and universal disarmament does not guarantee the maintenance of peace.” 

 But I think my favorite quote regarding maintenance has to do with how to maintain good relationships:  “The recommended daily requirement for hugs is:  four per day for survival, eight per day for maintenance, and twelve per day for growth.” Virginia Satir. 

Are you doing your fair share of maintenance?  Do you support, nurture, preserve, steward, or prolong life or the longevity of your possessions.  Interestingly, antonyms of maintenance are ignorance, squandering, obstruction, and waste.  Your choice—do you maintain or neglect?