One day I went to a lawyer friend for advice. “I’m in real trouble,” I said. “my neighbors across the road are going on vacation for a month and instead of boarding their two dogs they are going to keep them locked up and a woman is coming to feed them –if she doesn’t forget—and meanwhile they’ll be lonely and bark all day and howl all night and I won’t be able to sleep and I’ll either have to call the SPCA to haul them away or I’ll go berserk and go over there and shoot them and then when my neighbors return they’ll go berserk and come over and shoot me …”
My layer patted back a delicate yawn. “Le me tell you a story,” he said. “And don’t stop me if you’ve heard it – because it will do you good to hear it again.”
“A fellow was speeding down a country road late at night and BANG! went a tire. He got out and looked and –drat it! — he had no jack. Then he said to himself, ‘Well, I’ll just walk to the nearest farmhouse and borrow a jack!’ He saw a light in the distance and said, ‘Well, I’m in luck; the farmer’s up. I’ll just knock on the door and say I’m in trouble, would you please lend me a jack? And he’ll say, why sure, neighbor, help yourself — but bring it back.’
“He walked on a little farther and the light went out so he said to himself, ‘Now he’s gone to bed and he’ll be annoyed because I’m bothering him—so he’ll probably want some money for his jack. And I’ll say, all right, it isn’t very neighborly – but I’ll give you a quarter. And he’ll say, do you think you can get me out of bed in the middle of the night and then offer me a quarter? Give me a dollar or get yourself a jack somewhere else.’
“By this time the fellow had worked himself into a lather. He turned into the gate and muttered. ‘A dollar! All right, I’ll give you a dollar. But not a cent more! A poor devil has an accident and all he needs is a jack. You probably won’t let me have one no matter what I give you. That’s the kind of guy you are.’
“Which brought him to the door and he knocked –angrily, loudly. The farmer stuck his head out the window above the door and hollered down, ‘Who’s there? What do you want?’ The fellow stopped pounding on the door and yelled up, ‘You and your damn jack! You know what you can do with it!”
When I stopped laughing, I started thinking, and I said, “Is that what I’ve been doing?”
I thought, “Most of us go through life bumping into obstacles we could easily by- pass; spoiling for a fight and lashing out in blind rages at fancied wrongs and imaginary foes. And we don’t even realize what we are doing until someone startles us one day with a vivid word like a lightning flash on a dark night.”
Well, the other night I was driving home from the city. I was late for dinner and I hadn’t phoned my wife. As I crawled along in a line of cars I became more and more frustrated and angry. I’ll tell her I was caught in the heavy weekend traffic and she’ll say, ‘Why didn’t you me before you left town?’ Then I’ll say, ‘What difference does it make anyway –I’m here!’ And she’ll say, ‘Yes, and I’m here, too, and I’ve been here all day waiting to hear from you!’ And I’ll say, ‘I suppose I haven’t anything else to do but call you up every hour on the hour and make like a lovebird!’ And she’ll say, ‘You mean like a wolf, but you wouldn’t be calling me!’ By this time I am turning into the drive and I am plenty steamed up.
As I jumped out and slammed the car door, my wife flung open the window upstairs.
“All right!” I shouted up to her, “Say it!”
“I will,” she cooed softly. “Wanta borrow a jack?”
February 18th, 2010 at 3:58 am
Linda,
Beautiful story, my friend. It’s so easy to get all steamed up over nothing. My mom had a wonderful way of putting it: “Don’t waste $25 worth of emotion on a $.05 article.”
I should have practiced this today …
Thanks for the terrific reminder!
.-= Darlene Davis´s last blog ..Mother Teresa & The Taxi Cab Driver =-.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Hrmm that was odd, my first post didn’t work. Anywho I had to say that it’s good to see that somebody else also touched on this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. Yours was the first place that helped me understand this. Much obliged.
September 7th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
I know I should have deleted this comment,it’s obviously not talking about this post, I couldn’t help it though, I was new to blogging and I accepted all comments. Now I leave it here to remind myself of what to look for when deleting comments!
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March 8th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Hey – I found your site by mistake. I was looking in Google for PDF software that I had already purchased when I came upon your site, I must say your site is pretty cool I just love the theme, its amazing!. I don’t have the time this minute to fully read your site but I have bookmarked it and also signed up for your RSS feed. I’ll back in a day or two. thanks for a awesome site.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Thanks Ernie! I’m glad you happened here! When you come back why don’t you look at http://lindagraceonline.com/get-the-focus-on-you/ and get a gravatar! Then everyone can see what you look like!!
September 3rd, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Great story. We’ve all heard “making a mountain out of a molehill”. This is a different way to get the same point across. Thanks!
September 4th, 2010 at 6:32 am
Terre,
Yes! It’s a copmmon expression in my home, “Don’t borrow a jack”! It is a great reminder! Thanks for visiting my blog!
Linda
October 2nd, 2011 at 7:05 pm
This is such a great story with a great lesson to learn and everybody should read this. Before getting angry about something consider first to think that may people upset you. I agree all of this and I learn a lot of things here.
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October 5th, 2011 at 10:39 am
Hailey,
Yes, like I said, it’s a common expression in my family!
Linda
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:14 am
Linda,
Great lesson that I think everyone can learn from here. My doctor said something like that to me, more or less before you get angry about something, stop and think. Is there anything you can do about the problem? If not there’s no sense in getting upset right. Makes sense and has helped me a lot. Thank you for sharing
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June 23rd, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Lynda,
Our whole family knows what we mean by ‘borrowing a jack’! We laugh if it is, or explain if we need to that it’s not!
Linda
October 24th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Hi Linda!
Great story with a great lesson to learn and everybody should take time to read all out this. I want to borrow a jack ( lol I’m just joking), well, you made a great article as always Linda and I always appreciate it. Thanks for sharing this great story. More Blessings!
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December 25th, 2011 at 2:06 am
Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My blog is in the exact same niche as yours and my users would definitely benefit from some of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Thank you!
January 15th, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Francine,
I don’t mind at all and I would appreciate a link back to this blog!
Linda
March 15th, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Hi Linda with this lesson I learned something really great to me you remind us something that we miss it..
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