justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Choke

At the risk of using the phrase “back in the old days,” I think I’ve discovered an analogy that may help explain why I’ve had great ideas - but have more than often not taken them to completion.

When I was first driving in the early 50’s, I would occasionally drive an old car or truck that had a manual choke: the accessory that helps feed more fuel than air into the car which helps it get started – especially on a cold day, or when it hadn’t been driven in a while. (Manual chokes disappeared from engines starting in the late 1930s.) Before I stepped on the starter pedal, I’d pull out the choke knob just a little, gradually press the gas pedal and listen for the car to catch and start.

After a short while with the engine running, I’d press in the choke to allow the gas and air mixture to balance out and I’d be on my way with the engine running smoothly.

On occasion, as I was learning how to drive these older vehicles, I’d forget to reduce the choke and the car would sputter and the engine would often die.

Well, I just realized that so many of my ideas are much like when I was starting that old car: I’d think of something important, most likely write it down on a scrap of paper or even started typing it up, and put it away somewhere and not get back to it.

I still to this day find notes on scraps of paper from years past, in pockets of coats, in old folders, notes scribbled on sides of papers, on envelopes, and even today when I started to write a pithy response to something I read – I then allowed what I’d penned to “die” – much like the engines in the vehicles I was driving.  

Days are long gone when there were manual chokes on engines, and, maybe with this remembrance and analogy I can adjust the choke appropriately and charge ahead to completion. Maybe…