Just Ask

A friend and I were discussing the difficulty all of us have growing up in learning to ask for help. Especially, when we’re young we don’t like to admit we don’t know things and need someone to give us a hand.

My friend recounted a time when he was about nine years old watching his stepfather, who was about forty, attempt to iron plastic curtains. At nine he already knew that was a wildly illogical thing to do. Needless to say, they didn’t have curtains over that window when he was done.

We are all born ignorant and go through life confused but, if we learn to disregard ego, we figure out there’s always somebody who knows more about every subject than we do. All we have to do is swallow our pride and ask for help.

I recently had a plumbing project that I knew had to have a simple solution but could not remember how to accomplish it. I knew there was a logical explanation I just couldn’t come up with it. The original salesperson at our local large home improvement store sold us the wrong connectors.

And so, after a frustrating attempt to make the wrong connection work, I made a trip to Ace Hardware. I admit it pleased me the plumbing expert in their plumbing department took several minutes himself to diagnose the issue and sell me the correct fitting to do the job. If the first salesman had simply admitted he didn’t know how to do the job it would have saved me time, money, and frustration.

The truth is, we all need help to get through life.

When the arctic cold hit us recently I was reminded of how dependent we are on others. We really do like to think of ourselves as being individuals, capable of doing whatever is necessary in life. We don’t particularly like acknowledging our dependence on others. When the temperature drops like it did though we have to acknowledge we really need the folks who supply the energy that keeps the heat on. Unless we heat with firewood we’ve cut ourselves, we have to have heat provided by the work of others.

If we have to go out for groceries we depend on those who keep our roads and highways open. We owe thanks every winter to the snowplow drivers who make it safe to drive. We get to the market and usually don’t think much about the workers that stock the shelves, run the meat and produce departments, and so on. They work hard for low wages. Of course, they couldn’t stock the shelves unless the truck drivers delivered the supplies. We also shouldn’t forget the ranchers and farmers who work hard in all sorts of weather to produce the food in the first place.

None of us make it through life without help. Sometimes all it takes is a plumbing problem to remind us we don’t know it all and to be thankful for those who do.