I accidentally left my cell phone at home today. Ellen dropped me off at a local university so that I could go to the spanish class I’m auditing. Those that know us well enough will recognize that it is odd that Ellen dropped me off. Well, my car is still malfunctioning. So anyways, my phone is at home, and I needed to give her a call to have her pick me up after her errands and to let her know that I am unreachable by phone.
You’ve probably been in my shoes before. It is annoying when we are without the lifeline that is our cell phone. I thought, “No big deal.” I can get myself out of this pinch by wandering over to the library where I needed to do a few things anyways and borrow one of the phones over there. So I headed over. I ventured over to one of the “Help Desks” and asked to borrow a phone. This is where the story gets good. . .maybe. I was informed by the three young ladies in earshot that it is library policy to only loan the phone if there is an emergency. The example was actually given, “Like if someone has died.” I was caught off guard by this extremely inconvenient policy and these rule keepers. I go by a policy of my own, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.” So I walked away before I changed my mind. I uttered a less than halfhearted, “Thanks.”
As I headed out of the library, still fuming, I stumbled on a friend that I thought surely had no such policy and would loan me his phone for this 30 second conversation. I described my situation, as if it would have mattered, and told him of the recent encounter I had at the not so helpful “Help Desk”. He graciously loaned me his phone so that I could give Ellen a call. I told him that I was offended by the policy and that it didn’t seem very Christian. He responded, “The Man is an institution, not a Christian.” To which I responded, “Well, I assumed the young ladies considered themselves Christians and had phones of their own.”
As frustrated as I am with this situation, the university, and the young ladies, I’ve done the same countless times. I’ve kept rules or judged intentions which could have only hindered someone. I’ve left people in need.
When we try to play God in other’s lives no one benefits!