Once in the fullness and complexity of human existence three cars
left the same party one rainy night and took three different roads
on the way home. Oddly enough, at approximately the same time, each
car suffered a flat tire, and the young couples inside suddenly
found their evening and their lives somewhat different from what
they had been expecting.
The young lady riding in the first car became instantly upset.
"Well, this is just great," she said to her escort with
understandable disgust. "I knew I should have driven; then this
never would have happened. How could you be so careless when we're
all dressed up like this, anyway?"
"I'm sorry," the young man replied, getting out of the car. "I'll
fix it as fast as I can." He quickly retrieved the jack and the
spare tire and began to puzzle over the repair. In a minute the
young lady was at his side.
"You don't even know what you're doing, do you?" she asked.
"Well, not really, but I think I can figure it out," he told
her honestly.
"No you won't. I want this done right," the young lady answered, as
she grabbed the jack handle with just enough suddenness that the
young man lost his balance and fell over backward into a patiently
waiting mud hole.
While these events came into being to form a permanent, though
small, part of the history of the universe, the young driver of the
second car was, not many miles away, even then climbing out of his
vehicle into the rain and opening the trunk. His date, in a very
ladylike manner, and with due concern for her precious gown, stayed
in the car with her hands folded in her lap. She generously took
care to look away from the young man's labors in order not to cause
him embarrassment, and, when he slipped down and bumped his head on
the fender as he tried to loosen a particularly intransigent lug
nut, she very kindly turned on the radio.
The third young man, though he encountered different raindrops on a
different road on this night, realized similarly that he, too, was
destined to be wet, and pushed open the door with resolve. However,
as he climbed out of the car, the young lady he had been driving
home got out also. "Get back in the car," he told her, "or you'll
get wet."
"I'll help," the young lady said.
"There's nothing you can do," replied the young man as he reached
for the spare in the trunk. "It's really a job for one person, and
I've done it before."
"Then I'll watch," replied the young lady. And watch she did. Oh,
she held the lug nuts to keep them from getting lost, but to speak
truly, she was not really of any help and she did get drenched. As
he changed the tire, the young man looked at the young lady once or
twice, only to see her gown melting and her hair dripping down her
face, and no doubt he thought, "What a sight she is."
Well, I've told you this story as evidence of the foolishness and
irrationality of the human heart. For now observe the consequent:
The first young lady, naturally concerned for her safety and
realizing that she possessed knowledge that her young man did not,
quite reasonably chose to change the tire. However, the young man,
fool that he was, was never seen escorting this capable and logical
young lady again.
The second young lady, very sensibly concerned about preserving an
expensive dress and realizing that she would be of little or no help
to her young man, showed a similar wisdom in avoiding what she knew
would be the consequences of leaving the car. But, even though her
judgment was vindicated when she observed, in the form of the
drenched, muddy, and bleeding young man, exactly those consequences
she had predicted, the young man himself, blind and irrational as he
was, was also never again seen escorting this thoughtful and
discerning young lady.
Even stranger and more perverse as it must seem, however, the third
young man, even after observing the silly and unreasonable behavior
of his date, even after seeing her soaked to the skin, her gown
ruined, her hair plastered against her neck, her mascara running
down her cheeks in little inky rivulets--even after observing all
this, not only was he seen escorting her frequently to other
entertainments, but eventually he offered her a ring.