Insults

By Raoul Pascual

Raoul’s 2 Cents, March 17, 2023

Before anything else, please know that I am changing this eNewsletter program. I’m sure there will be bugs. Please accept my apologies in advance. If you did not subscribe to this email it’s easy to unsubscribe below. Thank you for understanding. — Raoul

Tech Support for Betsy

My day started with Betsy, an elderly client who needed help with her email. She is pushing 90 years old and is still doing a little online business with her husband and she needed to find a job order in her pile of emails. Helping her to sort her email was not part of my “job description” but I’ve done this for her before and I knew no one else would give her the time of day. She said she had been searching for the email for days now which explained her exasperation.

On the phone I gave her step by step instructions — which she rushed and failed to do. Her impatient voice was cracking up and she was practically in tears. “I think I should hang up now. I’m not feeling well.” She said her cancer was getting worse. Her husband’s cancer was also getting worse. I prodded her to continue. She did.

In between waiting for her slow computer to finish a command, we inserted some small talk. “Why don’t you just stop working and enjoy life?” I pondered. She said work was therapeutic. It gave them a sense of purpose. Then we talked about her family and everything was fine and dandy. She knew her days were numbered and she said she was ready. How can she be ready when she’s not a “believer?” I’ve been concerned about her ever since we first talked about God. She must have encountered some hypocritical Christian somewhere down the road and has since been militant against God. In fact, our conversation got her all riled up (which wasn’t good for her heart) and she told me she didn’t want to ever talk about God again.

“I think I’m going to have a heart attack,” she blurted as frustration grew to more frustration. In my mind I’m thinking: “Great! The cops will find her limp body still cradling her phone. The cops will trace her last call and accuse me of murder. The newspaper headlines will read —‘SENIOR CITIZEN DIALS M FOR MURDER!‘ I go under the radar. The FBI plaster my mug shot in America’s Most Wanted List. And this all leads to a movie deal. All because I tried to help poor Betsy.”

Eventually, (with a calm voice) I strengthened her confidence, assured her that I wasn’t going to let go, showed her that I was the expert, and (miracles or miracles!) we found her precious email.

“You did it again, Raoul. Thank you.” She was all giddy and talkative. I couldn’t stop her excitement. I made her day. I felt good. I ended by asking her permission to pray for her. And she was okay with that.

Remember the old Beatles song “All the Lonely People”? Where do they all belong? My answer: they belong in our care … they belong in God’s care.

TGIF people!

Raoul