Check your dashboard.

"I checked my dashboard and Bill has me going to....." is the message on my email Monday morning, from someone I work with. The dashboard being the location on the computer to find out where to work next week.
Being a child of the 1950's growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, the moment I read the word "dashboard" the image of the instrument panel of my very first car leaps to my mind. I can't help it. There in living color is the view through the steering wheel of a green vinyl covered 1968 Dodge Dart dashboard. The PRND1D2L indicator glued on top of the steering column and the white on black speedometer with gauges for all the information you would ever need. The Speedometer,of course, letting you know if you were within the limits placed by higher authority, so as not to get a ticket. ALT for the alternator to let you know if your battery was charging as you cruised down the road at 55 mph. The fuel gauge, obviously to check to make sure you could make it to the next station where you could fill up with .59 cent per gallon gas, and then the Oil light and the Temp gauge,the two most concerning and possibly menacing indicators on the dashboard. When the oil light came on you knew you were in serious trouble and if the temperature gauge was too far toward the "H" you should be concerned. With all these important items the rest of the dashboard was completed by the AM radio, the heater (no air conditioner) and the glove box. Cloth and vinyl seats complimented the completely carpeted floorboards.
So how did the dashboard of the past become the dashboard of now? I tried to find out where the term originated and here's one explanation I found from takeourwordforit.com "Interestingly, this word did not arise during the automobile era. Instead, it originated around 1846. Unfortunately, that's all I've been able to find, so far, on this word. I can guess that, when riding in a carriage or buggy on a badly rutted road, one was "dashed" (`hurled, knocked, or thrust with sudden violence') into the dashboard fairly frequently.
Since this column was originally posted, a reader has indicated that the dashboard prevented rocks and mud from "dashing" riders in buggies and buckboards, and this sounds like a credible explanation for the word's origin."
So I don't know if that is true, but I do know now that the use we make of the word dashboard is not so different from that of my 1968 Dart. In our work world we check the dashboard to see if we are where higher ups want us to be doing the thing assigned to us at the pace expected. We may judge if we are going too fast or too slow for the assignment and we may also measure our level of energy and enthusiasm for the task. In all the dashboard is the new agenda,the new itinerary, the electronic date book.
As I thought about this I considered what my spiritual dashboard might look like. What gear am I in, Drive, Neutral, Reverse, or maybe I'm just parked. How's my fuel level? Filled up and ready to hit the road, or am I running on fumes, afraid that if I drive too fast or too much farther, I'll be stranded with no help. Checking the alternator making sure it is my charging battery. And of course the oil light, trusting that that lubricating influence down deep in the core is there to keep things running and cool under pressure, so the Temperature gauge stays right where it needs to be.
Right now, my spiritual dashboard seems to be pretty normal. There's not too much that is making me run Hot, and the study I'm doing keeps my battery charged. No oil light on and fuel is available. But just like that Dart dashboard, I need to keep it in front of me and be aware of any changes.
So, how's your dashboard.
Peace my friends.