Missed Out
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series II Cycle A
Have you ever missed an opportunity that you were later sorry you neglected to act on? That was Barry's experience. When Barry was in the seventh grade he missed an opportunity. All the seventh graders were required to take a typing class for half the year. As a seventh grader, Barry thought, "Why in the world do I need to learn how to type?" He saw no practical use whatsoever to learn how to type. He did not take the class as seriously as he should have. Barry knew his father had his own secretary and she typed all his correspondence. Why would he need to learn how to type? he rationalized to his parents. By Barry's own admission, "I goofed off in class, sometimes giving the teacher a hard time."
The newly completed middle school had a typing lab complete with manual typewriters for each student. When everyone in the class finished typing one line a bell would ring. The class would be typing and all the bells would ring at the same time -- that is, except for Barry's. It became a game for him. His bell would ring at times before the rest of the class. The class would be typing along and then Barry's bell would ring, and he would start laughing. He did this on purpose. He thought it was funny. It was obvious to the teacher that Barry was making little or no effort in learning how to type and was distracting the other students who wanted to learn. When he did actually try to type he would look at the keys so the teacher had to cover them with masking tape. He would have to learn the location of the keys. Then there was that lunch period that he spent in the typing lab, practicing typing.
It was no great surprise to anyone that at the end of the semester Barry did not know how to type. He did not receive a passing grade either. He was finished with typing forever -- at least that was what he thought at the time.
Today Barry will be the first to admit that he has paid dearly for his short-sightedness. Several years later in college he had to both beg and pay people to type his term papers. As a seventh grader he never would have dreamed that one day there would be computers and word processors and that it would be a benefit to know how to type. The day came when everyone in his office had their own personal computers, and Barry was expected to know how to use his. Barry would be passed over for several promotions all because he could not type.
Barry was nearly thirty years old when he finally learned how to type. He bought typing books and tapes to learn how to type in his free time, something he should have learned years before.
The newly completed middle school had a typing lab complete with manual typewriters for each student. When everyone in the class finished typing one line a bell would ring. The class would be typing and all the bells would ring at the same time -- that is, except for Barry's. It became a game for him. His bell would ring at times before the rest of the class. The class would be typing along and then Barry's bell would ring, and he would start laughing. He did this on purpose. He thought it was funny. It was obvious to the teacher that Barry was making little or no effort in learning how to type and was distracting the other students who wanted to learn. When he did actually try to type he would look at the keys so the teacher had to cover them with masking tape. He would have to learn the location of the keys. Then there was that lunch period that he spent in the typing lab, practicing typing.
It was no great surprise to anyone that at the end of the semester Barry did not know how to type. He did not receive a passing grade either. He was finished with typing forever -- at least that was what he thought at the time.
Today Barry will be the first to admit that he has paid dearly for his short-sightedness. Several years later in college he had to both beg and pay people to type his term papers. As a seventh grader he never would have dreamed that one day there would be computers and word processors and that it would be a benefit to know how to type. The day came when everyone in his office had their own personal computers, and Barry was expected to know how to use his. Barry would be passed over for several promotions all because he could not type.
Barry was nearly thirty years old when he finally learned how to type. He bought typing books and tapes to learn how to type in his free time, something he should have learned years before.
