Like any other Sunday, Lynda made breakfast for everybody with the help of Libby in the clubhouse and when I walked in the clubhouse, I noticed that almost everybody was looking at me and smiling. That made me agitated. I went in the kitchen and asked Lynda what the heck was going on.
Lynda said you’re very popular this morning, my love. Doreen never stopped telling everybody how wonderful you were when you helped her last week with her computer.
I said it was just one of those things, she didn’t have to do that.
Lynda said now a bunch of folks would like to talk to you after breakfast as they think they could use your help, too.
I said I don’t mind helping, if I can, but I don’t like limelight.
Lynda said just go with the flow and everything will be just fine.
After breakfast, there were at least 15 folks gathered in the next door and waited for me. I told Lynda to go home as she didn’t have to be a part of the “show”.
She said she wouldn’t miss it for the world.
When I went there, Doreen said sorry Mir. I am responsible for organizing this group. What all I did was that I told them how good you were to me and how you helped me.
I said it’s okay, Doreen, I am here to hear whatever you folks have to say.
Doreen said, can I say something else, Mir?
I said go ahead.
She said it’s not what you did to help me; it’s how you did it.
I said come on Doreen; it wasn’t a complicated problem.
She said whenever I had problems with my computer whoever helped me including my husband came along and did something on the computer without explaining what and why. The difference between them and you was that you explained to me “how” very slowly then you told me “what” to do step by step.
She continued – Initially, I thought you were being lazy but then realized what you were doing. In other words, you made me solve my own problem by asking me to do something I had never done before in my life. Now I know how to create labels and as a matter of fact I didn’t only created some more labels for myself, I also showed Maxine how to do it. Furthermore, I asked Maxine to do what you had taught me to do which worked out just great.
Doreen looked at Maxine and Maxine said Doreen is right. I didn’t realize how easy it was to create labels when we know what we were doing. It was just a good start to look at the things slightly differently which we never did before.
I said I am totally indebted with your kind comments and the question is – what can I do to help you folks?
David looked at me and said we all need help with our computers, Mir, but it’s just a different level of help. Some of us are better than others but we all need help from time to time, and we are prepared to pay you for your time and expertise.
Lynda jumped into the conversation and said you don’t have to pay, and he would help you. It will give him an opportunity to get to know you all and perhaps most importantly it will keep him out of my hair.
I said thank you Lynda, I love you, too. Can I say something?
She said – of course.
I said Lynda and I are absolutely grateful for the way you all have accepted us and became our friends. I have no problem trying to help you but perhaps the best way to help you is to “empower” you with the basic knowledge that you can multiply it by helping other folks with their problems, keeping in mind that every problem is an opportunity to learn something new and different.
David said I like that idea.
Somebody else said explain to me what that’s mean.
I said I don’t necessarily like you to depend exclusively upon me if and when something goes wrong, I want you to help each other first before you get in touch with me.
One way to approach this concept is to provide you with an opportunity to learn the basics of the applications like email, word processing, and spread sheet programs.
Somebody asked how are you going to do that?
I said – I will make a presentation to you on each subject, showing how to deal with the basics and you all will have an opportunity to learn step by step. Then the following week I will take an inventory of your skills by testing you to make sure that you had understood the most of the things that I had attempted to teach you.
Somebody asked does it mean that you will not be available when we need you?
I said what all I am trying do is to minimize the dependency upon me.
Jason said I like this approach, Mir.
Doreen said please believe me when I say that what Mir is saying is correct. He knows what he’s doing. For instance, he did not do anything by himself to solve my problem. He sat back, explained to me very slowly then told me step by step what to do in order to solve my problem which provided me with an excellent opportunity to learn and practice.
I said thanks Doreen for your compliments but Lynda will whole heartedly agree with me that I am a lazy sod and always try to get other people to do things for me.
Lynda said that’s true in most of the cases but my question to you folks is do you want Mir to help you?
They said “YES”.
I said, let’s get together in a week or so to spend a couple of hours talking about emailing then we can move on to talking about word processing then spread sheet.
David said it sounds like a plan, Mir. Just let us know when we will be there with bells on.
When Lynda and I walked home together, she said thanks for doing this. They all appreciate it immensely.
I said at the same time, it gives me something to work with. At the same time I thought it was the right time to mention to Lynda that I also have lined up teaching as a part time professor at UNLV and the Community Colleges. She said how come I didn’t know anything about that. I said it was my fault and she accepted my apology.
It took me for a while to put together a presentation on the subject of “emailing” and then another week or so to go through each aspect of the presentation with the group. They were very appreciative and enthusiastically participated in the discussions. Following the training session, I call a meeting to take the inventory of their skills related to “emailing” just to make sure that they understood what I was trying to teach them.
Consequently, I decided to select a couple of folks as leaders for the group who appeared to be way ahead of the group and told the group that if they experienced any difficulties with their emailing activities, they should consider getting in touch with them first. They thought it was an excellent approach.
It took me another month or so to do the same thing with “Word Processing” and “Spread Sheet” sessions but everything was worthwhile. They committed to the idea and they felt as they were totally empowered to help each other. They all started calling me “Teach” and became very friendly. As a matter of fact when Lynda needed something to be done in our house, one of the folks, a handyman, helped her. When she asked him how much to pay for his services, he said “Nothing” and he said this is just a token of appreciation for what Teach is doing to help us out. Since then we never paid anything for the bits and pieces they did whenever we needed either in our home or garden. What a nice group of people.
I finally got back to my main interest – finding something to do more interesting.
One of the folks at the Chamber of Commerce mentioned to me if I was in touch with a group of the folks who have access to the casinos.
I found out that there was a Colored Citizens Labor and Protective Association of Las Vegas, formed in 1931 by Black residents seeking jobs building the Hoover Dam. They teamed up with the NAACP to advocate for better working conditions and eventually played a role in electing a new mayor who was more inclusive. This group, along with other Black community organizations, worked to challenge racial segregation and discrimination in Las Vegas.
I found somebody in the Chamber of Commerce who was a regular attendee of the monthly activities at that group. I asked him if he would be kind enough to take me to one of those monthly meetings.
One month we ended up going to the meeting together. He introduced me to the lay president and we clicked off well.
After the meeting she asked me to have coffee in her office and she was curious to know about my background and experience.
I spent an hour chatting with her and explaining what kind of experience I had. In the end she said I don’t understand what exactly you’re capable of doing but I have a good feeling about you and I think I would like to meet with you again to just chit chat and who knows if I come across any thing close to what you are qualified for, I will introduce you to the relevant people in the casinos.
I said I cannot possibly asked for more than that and I left her office as I had accomplished something.
