The Bent atenna

The Bent Antenna

I have a six year old Honda car that has given me nothing but
satisfaction since the day I bought it. If it has given me any
trouble, it was very minor, and even better, it was covered by
the warranty.

I would very highly recommend this model of vehicle to anyone
who's in the market for a virtually trouble-free car.

I know that it's improper to place too much value on material
possessions, so you will have to excuse me when I tell you that
I absolutely love this car.

It is very well kept, the interior is still very clean,
the mats are not soiled and dirty, it gets a hand wax job every
few months, and the engine still hums like a mockingbird. I've
had absolutely no complaints, until recently...

I was hurriedly leaving home early one sunny Saturday morning.
My haste resulted in some significant damage being inflicted on
my car.

I didn't realize that my garage door had only released half way.

As I backed out of the garage, I broke my antenna on the
incompletely opened garage door. There was enough room for the
entire car to go through, so it wasn't until I was completely
out of the garage that I saw that the door hadn't opened all the
way.

It was also at that moment that I realized that the loud
scrubbing noise I had ignored only a few seconds earlier was my
antenna being attacked by the garage door.

My antenna was horribly mangled. What significant damage!!

It may not seem significant, but it is.

The purpose of a car antenna is to receive radio signals.

Without an antenna, no signal can be received.

Now, when my antenna goes up, it makes a very noisy, grinding
sound. It sounds like a jackhammer trying to break up asphalt.

It's as though the antenna takes on the same human-like
stubbornness when someone is made to do something that he/she
has no desire to accomplish.

When the antenna goes down, it's noisy. Again, it's displaying
its resistance to perform the duty that it was designed to do.

Not only that, it won't even completely retract so I end up
driving around with a bent antenna.

Bent antennas and Honda cars are not a desirable combination.

Once I saw the damage to my car antenna, it was easy for me to
see how sometimes our built-in, innate antennas, our source of
direction, can show the same signs of damage that my physical
antenna suffered.

How's your antenna?

All of us have them, you know. Sometimes we refer to them as
that "something" that "told me".

It's that little nudge that makes you think twice when you're in
doubt about something you are about to do.

Do you receive sound advice and guidance grudgingly and
unwillingly? Or do you welcome it cheerfully and happily, and
then act on it?

Do you go around bent out of shape?

Does even the slightest "scrub" totally disrupt your day?

Does friction from another source cause you to react with an
equal, but opposite, reaction?

Or do you produce the same friction?

A bent, grudging, disobedient antenna is worse than no antenna
at all. If I had completely severed my antenna, at least I
wouldn't have to worry about its reluctance to extend and
receive.

There would have been no signal to receive, and I could plead
ignorance. But my bent, damaged antenna offers no excuses,
because I can still hear all the radio stations. My antenna
just doesn't make it easy for me to enjoy them.

As a result, I choose to keep the radio turned off altogether.
That way I don't have to hear that irritating noise as the
antenna reluctantly extends.

Does it take a while for your antenna to go up, when it should
be active and receptive at all times?

Your antenna is always working, always willing to pick up the
signal that offers the guidance that you're looking for.

That's what it's there for.

Learn to trust it.

Jan Bagwell
God Bless