Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Evangelism (11/01/07)
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TITLE: The Naked Truth | Previous Challenge Entry
By Corinne Smelker
11/07/07 -
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“Hey. Gotta minute?” I looked up to see Josh, my fellow technical writer, and cubicle neighbor.
“Sure,” I gestured, “Take a seat.”
He grabbed the chair behind me, swung it backwards, straddled it legs akimbo and settled his chin on his arms.
“Wassup?” I asked. Josh and I had been work mates for about two years and we often sat in each other’s work spaces at lunch, shooting the breeze.
“Weeeelll…you know I’ve had a million questions for you in the last couple of years. You know I’ve watched you carefully, and seen how well you work. I’ve seen how everything just seems to go right for you, even in the tough times. Even when everyone else around you is down, you’re still ‘online’ and working. So…” he paused, shuffled his feet a bit, wiggled uncomfortably in his seat and then blurted out, “I have decided – I want to take the plunge. I am ready to make my commitment.”
“Really? Wow!” Frankly I was a little startled. Josh had been my biggest adversary when I first started working at PolyCorp TechCom Inc. He challenged my every statement, and made me back up every word I said with facts. He rode me hard on every article I showed him, poo-poohing verifiable truths with his own logic and with the lies the media promulgated. “OK. Good.”
Josh swiveled in the chair, “So where do I go from here?”
I leaned forward, all thoughts of my lunch now gone, “This is a big decision you know that? Your friends will tease you. They will call you names and say you’ve lost your mind.”
“Yeah. I know. Look, if it makes you feel any better, I feel really bad about all the times I teased you and made fun of you here in the office. I can see I was wrong.”
I laughed, “Josh, it’s all right. If I had a dollar for every time someone has said something negative about my decision, I wouldn’t be working here now! I would be a full-time ‘evangelist’! Anyway, once you go for this, expect people to not understand why. You are choosing a narrow path, and those on the wide road can’t understand the purity and clarity you experience when you decide to walk that path. ‘Go with the flow’ they’ll tell you. ‘Why be different?’ you’ll hear. ‘He’s gone off the rails,’ is another refrain I hear from my family and non-believing friends.” I paused for a second. “Are you really really sure you’re ready?”
Josh stood so suddenly the chair toppled over. “Look, if I don’t do it now, I may never do it and the moment will pass. You’ve preached at me long enough, now let me follow through on my decision.”
Smiling I stood too and said, “Well hang on while I get my coat. We can go together and pick out your new iMac. Say goodbye to the hell of the PC world and enter the paradise of Macs!”
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Very clever and well-written.