Heat Rises but

 

 

 

Heat Rises but…

 “In My Day…” stories always taste like a douse of Castor Oil when you are on the receiving end of this type lecture. This statement however, tells something about my age. If you are under thirty years old you probably don’t even know what Castor Oil is; but that’s another story for another time. ( A quick reference, Castor Oil was used for any internal illness before the seventies.) Things have certainly changed.

An “In My Day…” story, always come when you know what you want but have to ask someone else for it or right when you are just about to have a good time. Adults have a responsibility to teach but we often pick some silly times to do so. Off-the-cuff lesson are not thought out or through. We just see it as a good time to spit out what we were told when we were young  ones.

 It’s hard to accept but things have changed and we are not in the same world anymore. And, advancements in technology speed up every day. Some changes are good and some should be watched very carefully.  As a parent, I now know that I have to pick the right times to teach and I should also not forget to celebrate good growth on the spot. And, of course the Word of God should be the base; stand firm on what it says. God has been, is now and will always be close if what you seek is salvation. Other than that, learn and teach the youth to enjoy life by not taking it too seriously. Everyone makes mistakes so expect them. I’m saying this to get to my “In My Day story…”

My dad would sometime take me to work with him on Saturday. This was a day that he caught up on work that wasn’t finished during the week. It was good overtime for him and the seamstress were often not there. A young boy around a bunch of women with scissors and needles would be a disastrous episode.  The shop would only have men loading stocks of fabric and my dad cutting patterns of fabric for uniforms for the women to sew together during the week.  I was always excited to get there but this particular morning was chilly.

 I remember running out into the cold and jumping into a cold car. The car still had some frost on it but we could see good enough to drive. We were only a few feet from the house and I quickly positioned  the heater blower to flow right onto may face. It was freezing outside. The look on my dad’s face told me that the story was coming. At first I was scared because kids just didn’t touch things without asking in my day. But that was not it today. I got a lecture. It was a totally new one. This time it was on how heat works.

“Heat rises." He said.

"So, let it come through the floor vents first and the total car will warm faster.”

It wasn’t even in dad’s stern voice. It was just a lesson.  And, in my day you never interrupt a lesson from an adult. The lesson that day was heat rises.

 So, I grew up with this as the way it should be. This was also restated by teachers, other parents and random adults. I know that I am not the only person to grow up with the same lesson. In the sixties and seventies…Heat Rises was almost gospel.  Class rooms, friends’ houses, libraries all had the same rules. Houses, apartments and factories were built with floor vents only.

Well, fast forward to now.  My son and I enter a cold car and the first thing he does is point the heat vents to his face and hands. Very quickly he’s warm and smiling. Of course my first inkling is to say,

 “No! No son let the heat come through the floor vents first. Sit back and be cold for a while that way the car warms faster.

Before I can get the words out He says. “Thank God for the heat.”

Hummm.

 What am I supposed to do with that? Is this the time for a life lecture on heat and how it rises or should I let him enjoy the warmth? After all isn’t that the reason we need the heat.

It feels good having a warm face.