on telemarketing,

you know, it has always struck me as odd the way people interact with telemarketers. Christ followers in particular. something about the idea of 'loving your neighbor' to me means not being abrupt and rude - followed by an immediate hangup. if this statement correctly identifies yourself - please continue reading this. i may be able to offer you a more positive alternative to make these phone calls more then a meaningless transaction between two frustrated human beings.

so every six months, i get a phone call from this place that sets up focus groups down by the spectrum. basically - they have clients, clients have products, products need reviews, so i come in - and review them. last time, it was a taste test. i got payed 75 bucks to try a bunch of junk food. the time before, i answered questions about backpacks and messenger bags for nike, and made 150. legit, eh?

it works like this: they call and ask a bunch of seemingly incoherent questions, pick out the few they needed, and tell you if you qualify or not for whatever product it is in need of review. for this one - seeing as that i do not own a playstation two or nintendo wii, i did not qualify. bummer too - i would have made seventy five to go play video games for a couple hours. dragonball z, actually.

during the conversation - the lady on the phone, in a rather aged voice, started to express her recent frustrations with lack of costumer response. she claims everyone things dragonball z is 'stupid.' i told her its just not as mainstream. she said that means its 'stupid.' i told her i thought the concept may be perceived as dorky - flying around through space shooting ka-may-a-mayas and stuff. she said dorky and stupid are synonymous... and expressed her frustration a little bit more.

she was nervous - cause it was her job to get 10 teens to come do this study, and so far she had none. you can't just tell a client that there game is stupid... that is called poor business. i told her i thought it didn't make much sense to think in such black and whites. just cause not many people have heard of something or cause it gets a bad rap - that doesn't mean it was a waste of production.

'wow - you are an incredibly bright young man. well - thank you for your time... i'll just call a dozen more kids i guess. keep it up with those thoughts of yours - i hope you end up with a great education and make tons of money.'

[this is where the alternative ending comes in.]

i couldn't just blow it off. i know thats not what i wanted.

"actually ma'am. thats not really what i am shooting for - but i appreciate the thought."

"What... you don't want to be rich and have a good life? What else would you do?"

"I don't know. I was thinking about going to live somewhere. Maybe Africa, or Thailand or something... just love the people and stuff."

"But... but - why would you do that?"

"I... I guess I would rather change the world then just sit back and enjoy it."

This statement put her in a brief shock. I waited for a moment.

"Well God bless you with that."

"Hey, thank you! Maybe now I can bless someone else with that."

She said a few superficial things, like - oh, we will get back to you if we really need someone else, and is your contact information still...

"You know son. I don't know what it was, but something about you just gave me - a sixty two year old woman the will to keep going. I don't remember ever feeling a hope like I felt during this conversation before... I mean - I wanted to change the world... But now, I'm stuck here calling kids about Dragonfire B games... or whatever they are called all day! I don't know where i went wrong - but you have to keep going. I thought it was over, but you, young man, have just reignited this poor old lady's will to live, even if it is just for a year or two more, so for that - I thank you."

---

With this, we said our excited goodbyes, and hung up the phone to go on with our separate ways. Doesn't really need much of a re-cap. I tried loving my neighbor.

It just happened to save her life.

"If hope where not so... I would not choose to exist."
[Bradley Hathaway]