I only go to a laundromat as a last resort when my washer/dryer isn't working I think all laundromats are like the one he describes I liked his analogy to dignity and respect and privacy
October 27, 2005
Airing Dirty Laundry
by John Fischer
The TV on the wall is into its second consecutive Bill Cosby Show daytime rerun. I have six loads of wash going plus a triple-load commercial washer for the comforter and mattress cover. I've gone next door for change three times because I'm still thinking about what it used to cost me to do this the last time I was in a laundromat… thirty years ago? I feel a little trapped -- like I'm doing time in a minimum-security state prison.
Here's who goes to laundromats: singles, renters transitioning between homes, college students, divorcees and perhaps a smattering of homeless who can afford it. Oh yes, and people like me, whose washer or dryer is on the blink and they have to wait for a warranty service man to come repair it.
It's a very temporary feeling here, and a little bit unnerving, pulling out your private things before whomever is sharing the machine next to yours. And for all the cleaning that goes on in a laundromat, it always seems to be the dirtiest place in town. How do you fold sheets without them hitting the floor? Do I want to pull my life out here and fold it? Why does it feel like I'm doing that? From the lack of eye contact people throw you here, it seems I'm not the only one who feels this way. Here we are in our private worlds, cleaning our private stuff, but that's just it, nothing's private here.
What can I take away from this experience beyond four piles of clean laundry? Respect for a person's dignity would be one thing, along with a realization that there is a place for privacy in everyone's life. Perhaps this is one of the most underrated privileges we lose both to old age and poverty: one's privacy. Privacy and dignity are intertwined.
We need to respect this about people whenever we are around them, especially people we may not know.
How can we ever expect anyone to want to hear what we have to say if, at the most basic level, we don't respect them for who they are, what they believe, and what has brought them to where they are today. A laundromat is a public place for getting laundry clean. There is a time and a place to air dirty laundry, but not here. That comes with trust. Here you want to whisk your dirty laundry into the washer as quickly as possible.
Sharing of the gospel needs to come within the context of a fundamental trust, and trust is earned over time. It takes an initial respect for privacy before anything can be exposed.
