The Desperate Man who Refused to be Rescued

Last week my car blew it’s head gasket. I was to blame, and the expensive lesson keeps teaching me.

When I’d added antifreeze two weeks earlier, I should have bled the cooling system line, which I did not know to do. I’d learned auto mechanics on an old slant six Plymouth Valiant that I could take apart and put back together again with relative ease. These new engines are too complex for me.

Because I did not bleed the antifreeze line, according to my mechanic, an air bubble caused the temperature sensor to fail, which caused the fan to fail, which caused the engine to overheat, which caused the head gasket to blow, which caused antifreeze to enter the oil system, which then ruined the aluminum engine. Consequently, I now must replace that engine.

Well, I do not happen to have an extra $2,000 laying about this month, so I’ve begun an active search for more income, such as finding new clients. I was not prepared for the absurdity waiting “out there.”

Along with tapping my personal and professional network, I decided to check Craigslist. There I found an ad from a man who said he urgently needed to find an expert in QuarkXPress who could work from home, and he complained about 28 people responding to his earlier ad and none of them saying a thing about the Quark desktop publishing software.

So, I wrote a short email to the man, telling him that I’m an expert in QuarkXPress who works from home. I said that I’ve used the page layout software for more than 15 years to design and produce almost every form of printed material, including display ads, brochures, business cards, flyers, posters, newsletters, magazines, and even books.

I expected a grateful reply, or at least a polite one. Instead, I received back a curt email saying he did not see why a writer replied to his ad for an expert in QuarkXPress.

I thought to myself, the poor man must be so accustomed to applicants not being qualified, that he did not read my cover letter clearly. So, I carefully crafted a letter that went into detail about my early years working for printers as a graphic artist, back when the main tool was an Xacto knife not a computer mouse. I reiterated that I’ve been using QuarkXPress since version 3.0 first came out, that I really am an expert.

I closed by saying that while I’ve chiefly supported myself as a writer, this is not the talent I’m offering to him. He advertised for a QuarkXpress expert, and I was offering my expertise to meet his urgent need. Therefore, could we do business together?

His even more curt and actually snide response repeated that he wanted an expert in Quark, and that a “hasty writer” is not what he needed.

Huh? I snapped back a reply that a rude attitude is not what I needed, so we could not do business together, after all, and I wished him good fortune.

Yes, I could have and likely should have been more gracious and generous in my response to his bad behavior. I like to use problems to stimulate my growth, and because this unpleasant little interaction has gnawed at me since, I’ve had to do a bit of soul searching.

The first thing I had to face was my judgments about his conduct.

Seems to me this fellow is like the villager who posted a notice that he desperately needed a cook. One of the best cooks in the county offered her services, but he turned her away because she also could cut his firewood.

Perhaps more apt, I’m reminded of the deeply religious man who heard a newscast that a hurricane was coming, that a great flood would cover the city, so he should evacuate at once. He said to himself, “I don’t need to leave. God will save me.”

As the storm approached, a police officer knocked on his door and repeated that he should evacuate right away. The man said, “I don’t need to go. God will save me.”

Then the storm hit, and the surge flooded the city. A rescue worker in a rowboat tapped on the man’s second story window and offered him escape. The man yet again replied, “I don’t need your help. God will save me.”

The flood continued to rise, and by nightfall the man had climbed up onto his roof. A helicopter overhead spotted him in its light beam and lowered a ladder to the man. He waved them off, shouting back, “I don’t need you. God will save me.”

The flood soon rose above the roofline, and the floundering man drowned.
Standing before the Seat of Judgment, the man demanded to know why God betrayed him. “I trusted you to save me,” he cried, “but you let me drown!”

God answered, “I sent to you a newscast. I sent a police officer. I sent a rowboat. I sent a helicopter. I did my part. What did you refuse my help?”

I want to believe that I’m not so foolhardy.

I have to replace my car engine, so if anyone offers an honest way for me to earn the money, i want to believe that I’ll gratefully accept the help. I want to believe that I’ll respond appropriately when Spirit lends a hand. I want to believe I’ll behave better than the rude man who posted the want ad. I want to believe all this about myself, but what’s the truth?

Wait, hold on a second. What’s all that noise outside? Is that a helicopter overhead? Oh, never mind. I don’t need to worry. God will save me.