31 Mar 2011

Port Arthur

I have a confession to make.  After four months of being on the road and living predominantly in holiday parks, the temptation became too great and I finally succumbed.  I’m not proud of the behaviour I’m about to admit to nor would I condone it in others.  But it happened and I confess:  I used the Handicapped shower.  Before I go on, let me also just say that no one was inconvenienced by my questionable conduct.  There was no knocking on the stall door, no harrumphs of impatient breathing willing me to get out and get out now.  Just the rattle of my own conscience, warring with my better side, worried about the path I’d now embarked upon.  Would I now give in to every temptation, would I stray farther from the Rule Follower person I’ve always been, only to look back years from now and say to myself That was it – that was the moment when I began this Rule Breaking life, when I fell from grace and forever lost my way back?

Needless to say, these rioting thoughts were taking away from the pleasurable surroundings my new Rule Breaking self was trying to enjoy.  The luxuriousness of the stall was something to behold.  No longer confined to a 2 foot wide box, I could barely contain my deviant glee at the space space space in which I had to move about.  Need to bend over to pick up that bar of soap I just dropped?  No problem – my bum didn’t even come close to the wall.  Need to shave those legs?  No need to contort like Harry Houdini, just stretch those babies out and feel the hamstring pull.  Want to shower longer than 5 minutes?  We’ve got you covered, not a timer in sight.

I know, it’s a terrible thing I did, and the amount of enjoyment I took from it truly was tempered by my thoughts of (a) how embarrassing if I get called out on my behaviour by the park management or worse, a disabled person in need of the stall and (b) while not meaning to be disrespectful or insensitive, knowing that I was doing the wrong thing.  I suppose we all make mistakes, poor choices, do things we know aren’t going to win us any humanitarian awards, and I suppose if the worst example of this in my life is that I once, in a moment of weakness, used the Handicapped shower, then maybe I will not have lived such a poor example of a life.  So all I ask with my confession is for a shred of compassion and forgiveness.  And while you contemplate my worthiness of that, here are a few photos from today’s hike on the Tasman Peninsula – the very hike which sent me down this Rule Breaking path to begin with.  If I’d simply chosen not to get dirty today, I probably wouldn’t have this confession to make.