ONCE UPON A  TIME  in  a  faraway  village . . .

 

A Man owned a car that stopped running. He was a poor man, but smart. "Drats!" groaned The Man. "I shall have to rebuild the engine, for I am poor and cannot buy a new car."

 

The Man had never rebuilt a car engine before, in fact, he had never performed any type of repair on an engine. He opened the hood of the car and stared at the engine. The Man began to wring his hands, hop back and forth from one foot to another, and clench his jaws. "Where do I begin? This is too much work. I cannot  do this. It is too difficult. Oh me, oh poor me, oh my, what do I do?" Angry, The Man bellowed at the car, "Why are you doing this to me?"

 

While The Man moaned and lamented about the difficulty and complexities of the task to rebuild the engine, he began to remove the engine parts and put them in a tub. When all of the parts were in the tub, The Man stared at them, collapsed to the ground, and rocked back and forth, moaning in a low, rumbling voice, "What have I done? I have no knowledge how to rebuild my engine. I do not know what these parts could be or where to put them. Oh me, oh me, oh my, oh poor me."

 

Suddenly, The Man jumped to his feet, angrily shook his fist, and roared at the car, "I will show you! I will complain to the company about you! I don't want to rebuild you, stupid engine! It is all too confusing! I do not want to learn to do this! It is not what I want to do! Bad car!" 

 

The Man walked away from the car and the tub of jumbled engine parts, and decided he would do nothing for now. With his hands in his pockets and uttering complaints about his car engine to passersby, he shuffled to the local cafe and sat down at an outdoor table. While he was soothing his frazzled nerves with a sinker and a steaming hot cup of joe, he saw an oil smudged booklet lying on the seat of a chair. The booklet was written by John and Jane Mechanic (1972), How to Rebuild the Car Engine.

 

The Man picked up the oil smudged booklet and flipped through the pages. There was so much information and he did not understand much of it, so The Man laid the booklet down on the chair seat and decided to ask people in the village how to repair a car engine. It would be much easier and take less time for The Man to rebuild his car engine if people in the village would simply tell him how to do it. It might not be the best engine repair in the village, but The Man did not care. His only desire was for his car to run long enough to carry him to the next village. After all, the man would never rebuild another engine, so he would not bother to spend the time and effort he calculated would be required to study the oil smudged booklet.

 

As The Man strolled through the village, he asked people he met, "How do I rebuild my car engine?"  Some people were helpful and willing to assist The Man, some ignored The Man, one person confused The Man more than he was confused already, and others did not offer useful suggestions. One man with an oil smudged rag in his hand pointed to the cafe chair with the oil smudged booklet lying on it, and patiently, but firmly stated, "Before you ask me any questions and accept my offer of assistance, READ THE OIL SMUDGED BOOKLET. Then I will be glad to offer my help for as long as it is needed."

 

The Man did not want to read the oil smudged booklet. It did not appear to be interesting and would take him a long time to read it. He felt, thought, and believed that he should not be required to read the booklet before the oil smudged rag man would help. No one had required him to read the oil smudged booklet before he bought the car. Why should he do so now?

 

Angry that the oil smudged rag man would not rebuild his car engine, The Man walked past the big roll-up door where the oil smudged rag man stood. The Man noticed an overall clad woman seated on a stool in front of a car exactly like The Man's car. "What luck", thought The Man, "perhaps she can help me." The man walked over to the woman and began to observe her and the surrounding area.

 

The overall clad woman was reading a booklet with oil smudges on it. She was writing little notes and placing oil smudged paper clips along the page edges. "Why, look at that", The Man puzzled to himself, "the overall clad woman is reading and marking an oil smudged booklet just like the one on the chair seat at the cafe!"

 

Surrounding the overall clad woman were several tubs, boxes, and trays, a roll of masking tape, an indelible ink pen, a pencil, a measuring tape, a ball of twine, a box of tools, and a sinker on a napkin next to a steaming hot cup of joe with an oil smudged cup handle. Hanging from the hood of the car in front of the overall clad woman was a large paper with a diagram or some mysterious drawing of a car engine, with all of the parts drawn and labeled. The Man began to look, scrutinize, and investigate the area surrounding the overall clad woman and her car.

 

The man noticed that the overall clad woman's car engine had been dismantled, and each part had been cleaned, labeled, and neatly sorted into tubs, boxes, or trays with labels on the containers. The overall clad woman looked up from her reading and greeted the man. "Hello."

 

"Hello, overall clad woman", returned The Man. "I am traveling, but first I need to rebuild my car engine in order to drive to the next village. Alas, I do not know how to rebuild a car engine. Will you tell me how and help me or rebuild it for me? I am a poor man and cannot pay you, but I do not want to rebuild the car engine. Rebuilding a car engine is a task I will never use again and do not need to learn. I need your help."

 

The overall clad woman smiled, "Yes, I will help you, but first, you must read the section in the oil smudged booklet, 'How to Rebuild the Car Engine'. Then you must read it again and make notes on the paper edges. Then you must read it again and place oil smudged paper clips on the paper edges to mark information that you still do not understand. After that, you must contemplate, deliberate, ponder, mull over, and cogitate about what you have read. As you ruminate, you must clean and sort the engine parts, and label and organize them in a system of tubs, boxes, and trays. It is then that I will help you rebuild the engine. The car will run for you to travel to the next village. Most important, the next time the car engine does not run, you will be able to repair or rebuild it by yourself."

 

The Man began to protest and grumble that he did not want to perform all of the work the overall clad woman had assigned him. His only desire at the moment was to travel to the next village. The Man sighed and mumbled, but begrudgingly decided to follow the directions he had received. As he completed the tasks assigned to him, The Man realized he was learning how to rebuild a car engine. He was excited to learn about mechanisms, devices, and contraptions that he never felt were important to know. The Man was pleased when he had accomplished his tasks and appeared in front of the overall clad woman.

 

"I am finished with my tasks. Would you help me now?" asked The Man of the overall clad woman. 

 

"Yes, I will gladly help you now", smiled the overall clad woman. "Let us look at what you have done. We will check if it is all done properly and correctly in order to be able to rebuild your engine and ensure that the engine will run for you. Every tiny, seemingly insignificant part plays a role and serves a purpose for the whole engine to work properly. When we are finished, you will have a rebuilt engine that is just like new. It will be a rebuilt engine of which you will be proud."

 

The next day, as The Man drove from the village on his way to the next, in his car with the just like new rebuilt engine of which The Man was very proud, he waved to the overall clad woman. "Thank you", laughed The Man, "If only I had not wasted so much time and effort trying to avoid rebuilding the car engine. I have learned a valuable lesson. Good-bye."

 

When The Man reached the next village, he slowed the car as he passed a young boy and girl standing in front of a car just like The Man's car. The Man noticed engine parts scattered on the ground. The boy and girl frantically waved to The Man.

 

"Help! Help!" the boy and girl shouted. "Stop! We need help to rebuild our car engine. We are poor and we have no money. We cannot rebuild it, for it is too difficult a task and we are very tired and helpless. Will you rebuild it for us?"

 

The Man smiled and said to the boy and girl, "Yes, I will gladly help you, but I will not rebuild your engine for you. First, you must read the section in this oil smudged booklet, 'How to Rebuild the Car Engine'."

 

 

© 2001. B. Hartnett