Owens Corning

What do you think of when you think of insulation? I think of those old commercials with the Pink Panther lending his celebrity to the famous pink insulation manufactured by Owens Corning. Why am I talking about pink insulation?

As we have tried to settle into our new location in East Texas, we have put well organized boxes marked for storage into the attic. I should say Karl, not we. He's been doing all of that hot and dirty work. You'd have to have a Doug Rye home in order to have an attic that wasn't hot. Anyway, in the process of doing some repairs that needed to be done in the attic and putting boxes up there, Karl managed to get insulation on his clothing, although it wasn't really visible.

Karl took a break before going back up to the attic. He needed some time to cool off and get the next load of boxes all lined up. During this time, Greta was preparing for a nap and wanted to cuddle with daddy. It took us a few hours to catch on to what happened, but those present but practically invisible insulation fibers on Karl's clothes found their way to Greta's clothes.

In the process of being a four year old child, Greta managed to get those fibers all over herself and declared later that she was itchy. We thought it was just dry skin, her body adjusting to the move and new house and so forth. When Karl took Greta with him to the gas station and Greta lifted up her shirt to scratch, the gas station attendant gasped and thought Greta had posion ivy.

It was at this point that the light came on and Karl rushed Greta home for a bath. I searched in vain on the internet to find what is the best treatment for a child who has been exposed to insulation fibers. Finally, I resorted to calling a manufacturer of insulation, but I couldn't recall any names, but I did remember the Pink Panther.

My search on the internet soon brought me to the trademark pink insulation of Owens Corning. I located their toll free number (after searching their website for recommendations as to how to treat someone exposed to insulation fibers) and after going through a short maze of prompts found myself speaking to an operator. When I explained the situation, she responded immediately by saying she would connect me to a man named Jim who could help me. She got Jim on the line who said he was on another call and would call me back immediately if I gave him my number, which I did.

Less than five minutes later, Jim called me back and said that most people who get insulation on them don't have an allergic reaction. It's actually a mechanical reaction to the small glass fibers of the insulation that irritate the skin. The problem comes when people scratch at it and make their skin bleed. He said the best thing to do was get Greta in a warm bath with mild soap to wash off any of the fibers that were still on her and make sure she didn't scratch anymore.

In the process of our conversation, Jim and I discovered that our insulation was yellow and not even manufactured by Owens Corning, but as he put it, it doesn't matter when you have a child that is covered in insulation fibers.

I really appreciate Jim's willingness to help in my situation, even though it wasn't even his company's product. I learned a little more about insulation and I also learned that just because you don't see it on your clothes, doesn't mean it's not there.

Sometimes our sinful attitudes and selfishness seem microscopic to us. We can't see it, so we think it's not there. We discover the truth when we get close to someone and they begin to react to our selfishness. Hopefully, it breaks our hearts to see their pain and suffering that is a result of our selfishness. Hopefully, we learn to apologize for our behavior and learn how to not repeat it.

Best of all, there is Someone who didn't have anything to do with our misfortune, but He still is available to help us when we call Him.