Writing Prompt: character flaw: generosity ---
Diane put the gear shift down as she maneuvered the rental sports car down the steep slope towards the coastline. The US Route 1 coastal road was tricky driving, but she loved the challenge. She also loved spending her more than generous advance from her number #1 client on her first weekend getaway in over a year in Northern California. She had left the office early this glorious late May Friday afternoon so she could pick up the convertible. She would try to make it up at least half way towards Tahoe City and the lake by dinner time. But first she'd take the drive up to Point Reyes National Seashore, and enjoy the winding roads with the salty ocean breezing by on her left. Then she'd turn inland at Tamales, back towards the highway. She could be in her cabin around sundown, 9 pm, she thought, thinking of those sparkling waters and off in the distance the mountains. She was on top of her world, California dreaming, and enjoying her new found freedom as a freelance consultant.
Her cell phone rang. Diane woke from the road and hesitated briefly before looking at the phone on its cradle. She had splurged on all the latest gadgets for her phone and transfered them to the rental, and could use the hands-free. She grinned at the thought; the purchase was one of her earliest struggles as a freelancer with spending money on technology. She struggled in the beginning, but now fully understood the principle you had to spend money to make money. She slowed down, let a few cars behind her pass, and answered the phone. Lo and behold, it was her #1 client! Diane smiled into the rear-view mirror.
The smile quickly turned into a frown as it seemed her client was very upset and frantic. Her client seemingly was stuck in Sacramento. Could Diane come get her? Diane listened patiently to her client while trying to work out calm thoughts and logistics in her head. A personal issue had put Diane's #1 client in an awkward position. Matters got worse when she was trying to get out of the situation, her client's purse was stolen as she was walking to the taxi station. At least she had her cell phone sensibly clipped to her belt, like the other male executives at her company. Lose everything else, even your mind, but be damned if you lose contact or communication capability.
Diane would go. She reset the GPS in the convertible to Sacramento instead of Point Reyes. It could wait. Her client could not. Diane sighed heavily, and regretted taking her client for granted earlier, the advance was almost like a blackmail to be at her client's beck and call. With a heavy heart, she knew would not make it to Lake Tahoe by sundown. Perhaps if things go well and Diane can help patch things up, her client will from now on be loyal, less nit-picky, and actually listen to Diane and take her expertise into account. Diane would try harder to see through false generosity. The lovely coastline drive would have to wait for Diane, until next year.
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"Some people think any sign (or any presumed sign) of weakness or human error/frailty must be rejected--not just the flaw, but the entire human. It is like dismissing Martin Luther King, Jr. as something less than laudatory because he committed adultery.
It is not simply judgmental, but a fatal flaw in one's own objectivity. Because no one is perfect. If we try our best every day to make the world a little bit better...that's all we can ask of ourselves."
- Skin-to-Skin, May 8, 2008
