Of Doorknobs and Chainsaws

It all started the day before I was to leave for out of town. I accidentally, or should I say absent-mindedly, locked myself out of our apartment. I was about to leave for work at 6 am because my car was under colorcoding. On my way down from my room, I brought my laundry and my work folders. I placed the laundry near the laundry area and went straight out to the garage. A split-second after I closed the door, I realized that I had left my bag... and my keys ... and my cellphone in my room. No amount of knocking and banging on the door and window worked. My brothers were apparently built to sleep through a bomb explosion. After about twenty minutes, I sought help from our landlord's caretaker. He was able to successfully open the side gate and the kitchen door (which I now have to change kasi, hindi pala kami burglar proof). But the problem did not end there because of course, I had also locked myself out of my room. My brother (whom I had now roused from deep slumber) took out a steel saw and started hacking on the doorknob. Thankfully, after a few minutes, he was able to saw open a hole, into which he jammed a screwdriver, and with a few kalabog here and there, my door was open.

For the fourth time, in a span of a month and a half, I again had to buy a new doorknob. Yes, you read it right - the fourth time... the same number of times that I locked myself out of my room and the same number of times that my brother had to saw the doorknob open, each lock-out situation worse than the one before (I mean, what could get any worse than locking myself out of my house?). After the third lock-out, I learned my lesson and distributed the three spare keys into three separate key holders - my house keys, my car keys and an extra key which I left in my room. Though really, what was the use of a spare key when it's inside my locked room the whole time (Duh for me). At the very least, I figured that I would always have my car keys with me every time I went out. My fourth lock-out proved me wrong.

Each time my brother was tinkering with the doorknob, I would be standing in the sidelines, praying in desperation for a miracle, pleading in frustration "Lord, just this once, pleeease let the lock pop open" but to no avail. I felt as if my prayer was falling on deaf ears. And, disappointed, I would give up and simply wait for the sawn doorknob to fall off.

On hindsight, I realized that it would be better if I learn from these incidents instead of the Lord giving me an easy way out. And this is so true in so many instances in our life, when we pray fervently for a miracle that does not seem to be forthcoming, when we ask why the Lord does not want to grant the simplest of prayers in the most desperate of situations. There might be something in us that needs to be developed, a bad trait that needs to be overcome, a good trait that needs to be recognized. In my case, it's knowing where to put my keys, it's always remembering to bring my keys, it's not locking the door if I am unsure that my keys are in my bag, it's always remembering to bring my cellphone, it's mentally ticking my things-to-bring checklist everytime I leave my room, it's appreciating my brother's presence and ready-to-help attitude everytime I ask him to break my doorknob open, it's knowing - with my eyes closed na - how to install a doorknob.

I actually have not distributed the three spare keys of my new doorknob. It's a major, life-defining decision that I am still trying to figure out as it could spell the difference between learning from the experience or getting into the Guinness Book of World Records for most number of lock-outs and changed door knobs in a short span of time. But so far (fingers crossed), I have not had a lock-out episode for almost a month. And when that does eventually happen, which I hope will not be in the next 50 years, my trusty chainsaw and screwdriver are now conveniently placed just outside my door, ready to do battle with that next locked doorknob.