A Matter of Principle: Dependability has its rewards

By Qarol Price

As I write, I am reminded of an old television commercial from the late 70s for bath powder in which the catch phrase was “Calgon, take me away!” It opens with a young, stressedout professional woman exasperatedly reciting a list of her daily challenges, “The traffic, the boss, the baby, the dog. That does it! Calgon, take me away!”

The velvety throated voiceover goes on to urge us, “Lose your cares in the luxury of a Calgon bath.” Meanwhile, the bedraggled woman is suddenly refreshed, elegantly ensconced in a luscious bubble bath fit for a goddess. The voice-over continues, “It lifts your spirits … Lose yourself in luxury.”

Nothing promotes well being like cozy comforts. It’s that dopamine buzz one gets when absorbed in soothing pleasures that makes you forget your burdens and worries. Oh, to be relieved of the dreadfully uncomfortable feelings that grip our gut throughout our days: the fears, the anxieties, the irritations, the frustrations.

What a valuable gift — to be rid of all that mental and emotional strain, even if only for moments.

I remember how tantalizing the Calgon commercial was for me as a harried high school student. At age 16, I was the advertising manager of a local K-Mart store with reports and deadlines to manage while holding down my 11th grade student responsibilities consisting of, you guessed it, reports and deadlines.

In those days, I could often be heard saying, “Calgon, take me away!”

Do you think the woman relaxing in the bathtub after her long, hard day deserved the embracing comfort of a bubble bath? I am assuming that she did. As we overhear her reviewing her many daily obligations. It seems implicit that she feels satisfaction at having spent her energy precisely by fulfilling her several duties owed to her children, her colleagues, her employer, her pets and her customers!

She aches, but is proud of aching. Just like the athlete happy to have her aches, bruises, even scars, because she earned them by winning the victory.

Had the woman failed to fulfill her obligations to all those people (and animals) who depend on her, sadly leaving them in the lurch, wouldn’t she feel guilt rather than satisfaction? Her chores may seem trivial, but they are not. By doing them she is keeping up her end of a covenant she belongs to as a mother, an employee and a friend. The well-being of others is dependent to some degree on her. And she takes pride in not having let them down.

She can rest satisfied that she isn’t luxuriating to escape her responsibilities but rather because she has fulfilled them. Her dependability feels just as satisfying as that Calgon bath!

Qarol Price is a writer and educator. She has taught philosophy to children in Johnston County Public Schools and in Harlem in New York. She is a resident of Selma.