Thirst

An unmet need or quite literal thirst that a stranger satisfied for me happened about six months ago. Although it was not a stranger, it was a member of our church, and I am struggling to this day to remember who performed this kind act for me, for reasons that will be clear below.

It was a very warm, sunny afternoon in late summer 2018 at a grocery store I had specifically chosen to do some prospecting for my new business in real estate sales. By way of explanation, in the particular sales training program I was in, we were required to make twenty contacts each week day, or a hundred per week, where we talked about real estate with any adult, whether live in person or by phone. Those who did not do this, each week, committed what was termed a “foul”. Collecting six of these “fouls” over the course of the seven-week program caused one not to “graduate” and served to prevent an individual from achieving company recognition of completion. Rebates for program tuition when sales close are unavailable when people foul out, as is the unwanted reward of a sense of failure. Admittedly, in doing this, I was motivated somewhat more significantly from a sense of avoiding failure than from seeking a worthy goal of making those contacts each week.

For at least four of these weeks, I did not make my mandate. However, I needed to have some weeks where I would meet the commitment to successfully complete the program. One alternative way to meet this commitment was to do what was termed a “Bold 100”, where one meets and talks about real estate with a hundred people in a single day. I did this twice, each time in the hot sun at a different grocery store, with one time seeming more memorable. My agent colleagues had been asked to leave mall environments trying these scenarios; with a grocery store, I figured I probably had less chance of this – and a captive audience.

I stood in front and would introduce myself as a real estate agent, hand them my card, and an optional scratch ticket to entice them, asking as a lead-in, “Would you like a free lottery ticket?” After doing this one of the two times I did it in the hot sun, I was nearing the end, and a member of our church recognized me as she took my card and said something to the effect of “I think I remember you from church, from the choir.” I stammered something to the effect of, “Oh yes, of course, nice to see you…”, as I was having trouble with her name. She must have noticed my glistening brow and a dizzy look and taken pity on my appearance, as later when she left the store, she handed me a cold bottle of water. Gratefully, I said “Thank you so much!” and thought, “There is a God!!”

This act of compassion gave me some affirmation that maybe some of my efforts to work diligently to satisfy this arduous contact-making process could have been worthwhile, which was more meaningful to me than quenching a temporary thirst and preventing heat stroke. The thought I may have had was “She sees me working hard at what may be somewhat of a futile effort, and out of compassion wants me to avoid too much suffering.” For that, I’m grateful and humbled that she took action to help me feel better and survive the process.

-Dean Jacobus