Article February 14, 2005 Issue

3 DEGREES OF SEPARATION

Jan Libengood

THERE WE WERE, MY MOTHER , my sister, and I, waiting patiently in line for our turn at the drive-up window at Standard Federal Bank shortly before Thanksgiving. The car ahead was finally leaving. Just as I was pulling into place, a car came from nowhere and stole our spot. Now we would have to wait even longer. What's more, the other driver was laughing at us, apparently feeling quite superior. Two words flashed across my mental screen: hatred, revenge.

But let's go back a couple of months. I'm at home, trying to print something in a hurry, and my printer won't print. In fact, it won't even turn on. This means having to crawl around on the floor, poking at power cables I can't reach without dismantling a lot of other cables. I spend several minutes trying, to no avail. No, it isn't the end of the world, but at that moment I'm fuming.

Then I get an idea. There's an amazing series of paragraphs about the thoughts we think in Science and Health. The first one describes my thoughts exactly. It has the heading: "First Degree: Depravity." What follows is a list of qualities that are not at all attractive. Actually, I had made a project of trying to keep out of that type of thinking. But now here I am, totally giving in to such thoughts—anger, resentment, and willfulness. And it is getting me nowhere (it never gets us anywhere). I want out. I want out even more than I want to get the printer working.

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