The Shame of Rust

Shame. It does a lot to your self-esteem, and not in a good way.  It drives some people to unthinkable acts of self-destruction.  It’s a jolt of everlasting guilt on the soul. It’s that pimple that just won’t go away. 

You can only imagine the assault on my self-esteem when I woke up one morning and found rust stains in my toilet bowl. 

For days prior the water in the tank was smelling stagnant and appeared rusty. With every flush the water flow marks in the toilet got darker. The embarrassment! The shame! The fear of having guests who needed to pee or poo! 

I tried bleaching and scrubbing and bought every available toilet cleaner on the market. Nothing seemed to work, and with every flush the rust seemed to glow brighter, taunting me, accusing me of being a bad house-cleaner.  

I couldn’t sleep. I would stay awake thinking I didn’t deserve anything better than a rust stained toilet. I was constipated with thoughts of rust. There were no sweet dreams for me. 

The shame became so overwhelming that I seriously contemplated replacing the toilet with a brand new rust-free toilet. But I refused to let the rust stains win. I am Michael hear me roar and I do not accept defeat, especially from a toilet. 

So what did I do? I did what anyone overwhelmed by shame would do. In the dark of night I secretly logged on to the Internet for help. I searched and searched and read horror stories of rust and rusty toilets and the demise of those whose toilets were forever rusty. 

Then I came upon a solution, a rather simple solution, involving cream of tartar and hydrogen peroxide.  Could it be that simple of a solution? 

One-quarter cup cream of tartar mixed with hydrogen peroxide to form a paste. The paste is then rubbed on the dry rust stains and left there for an hour, or two, or overnight depending on the severity of the stain.

I carefully prepared the concoction and rubbed the paste along the rust. After waiting a few hours I approached my toilet, took a deep breath, and flushed… and Yes! Yes! Yes! Hallelujah! The rust stains disappeared. 

The shame is lifted. Friends are invited to use my bathroom again. 

Now I gratefully peer into my toilet bowl and smile a shame-less smile of total rust-free glee.  

Aaah!