For a Reason

Josie loses her job and rebels when two friends tell her that "everything happens for a reason."

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It was Adele who first told Josie that "everything happens for a reason." Josie had just lost her job, and she could not think of a single reason that this cataclysm should have happened.

"What?"

"Everything happens for a reason."

"I was fired. For no reason."

"Oh, there has to be a reason. It's all part of God's plan."

Josie gaped at Adele, then shut her mouth. Then she opened it again. "God's plan? God got me fired? I think it was the boss, who was satisfied with my work but wanted to save money by hiring his current wife. And besides, doesn't God have better things to do, like keeping the world spinning around or making the sun rise or possibly nudging people towards world peace or something?"

Adele smiled at Josie. It was, Josie thought, a rather condescending smile.

"No, really. Everything happens for a reason."

"Well, yes, there's cause and effect. We can go back and find a cause for my firing even though I didn't do anything to make it happen. It's a fact that my boss wanted to save money by hiring his current wife. Of course, he could have hired one of his previous wives, but that wouldn't have made good economic sense. And he's thrifty. Very thrifty. So that's cause and effect. Fine, effects have causes. Causes have effects. But God doesn't engineer all this stuff. God has better things to do."

"You already said that."

"Right. Fine. Whatever. Listen, I'll talk to you soon Must go. Have to start looking for a job."

The next day Josie was wandering around her hometown of Ashleyville, Ohio. Having spent the morning on the internet looking for jobs, she wanted to get outside. Maybe there would be a Help Wanted sign in front of a really nice-looking, well-appointed office. Right. A handwritten sign made with a sloppy black marker in the window of a posh office? Not bloody likely. Josie was still going through her British phase, which had already lasted two years. She was looking forward to saying or just thinking Cheerio! but she wasn't sure the British really said that these days.

Soon she was in front of the Ashleyville Cafe. Might as well have a cup of coffee. They usually had some free newspapers to look at. Did newspapers still have Help Wanted columns? She doubted it, in this age of computers and employment websites. She had been on one that morning called Just Jobs. Yeah, just jobs. Just. A job was important. Sure, she was getting unemployment but that wasn't like getting paid in a real job. Feeling disconsolate, she walked into the cafe, and as her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness, Josie heard a voice. It was Priscilla, someone she hadn't seen in years.

"Josie, is that you? What are you doing out and about on a workday? Shouldn't you be sitting in front of a computer somewhere and making coffee and being a good, industrious worker?" Was that sarcasm that Josie heard in Priscilla's voice? Of course. Why not? Priscilla had never been a really congenial friend.

"Come, sit down, and tell me how you've been." Priscilla sounded extremely cheerful. Too cheerful. But Josie had no choice, or did she? She could tell Priscilla that she was contagious and had to sit by herself, but that was not true. And Josie was honest. As honest as the day is long, as her mother used to say. And she wanted to please people. She knew that, and she also knew that it was not her best trait. Sometimes anger would well up in her and she wanted to tell someone off, but she never did. She was a good girl, as her mother used to say.

So Josie the good girl smiled a thin smile at Priscilla. "Sure, Priscilla. Let me get a good strong cup of coffee and a pastry."

The Ashleyville Cafe was a casual place. Anyone who sat down at a table would eventually be waited on by Moira, the cafe's owner. Anyone who was in a hurry could go right to the counter and still be waited on by Moira or her assistant, Boris. Josie liked the name Boris. It sounded exotic. She went up to the counter. Boris had been sorting something under the counter. Josie cleared her throat. Boris sprang up.

"Oh, hi. It's Miss Josie, right? What can I get you?"

"How about one of those cappuccinos you do so well? And a blueberry scone."

"Sure." Boris busied himself while Josie prepared for her encounter with Priscilla. They had met in elementary school. Priscilla had always been bossy, and Josie had always been accommodating. Is that what always happens? Josie pondered whether a bossy kid would deliberately team up with another bossy kid. Not bloody likely.

Boris completed her order. She thought of saying "Spasiba"--thanks, in Russian, but she wasn't sure Boris knew any Russian, in spite of his name. Besides, that would be showing off. One mustn't show off. Ah, there's that "one" again, another Britishism. But her mother didn't say "one"; no, she would just say, "Don't be a showoff, Josie."

With what she hoped was a brave smile on her face, Josie took her order to Priscilla's table and sat down.

"So nice to see you, Josie. So what are you doing at a cafe during working hours?"

"Well, I lost my job."

"You? You lost your job? Josie the good worker, the dependable, the polite, the smart woman, the one who obeys orders before the boss has finished issuing them?"

"Somehow I don't think you're complimenting me, Priscilla. You make me sound like the proverbial doormat."

Priscilla was silent.

OK, well maybe I am that way, but what's a better idea? To be undependable and rude and clueless and insubordinate? Is that better?"

Then Priscilla laughed. "No, not really. I actually was trying to compliment you, give you a little boost."

Josie made a noise that sounded like a snort. Then Priscilla gave her a look of something approaching superiority.

"Remember, Josie. Everything happens for a reason."

"Not you, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday I was talking to Adele. Remember her from high school? She was saying the same thing, that everything happens for a reason. I really objected to what she said."

"You objected? Josie the acquiescent, Josie the polite, Josie the perfect? You objected? My, my. What did you say to her?"

"I told her there was such a thing as cause and effect."

"Well, yes, everyone knows that. That's what you said? That's all?"

"No, that's not all I said. I said something like this. Sure, there is cause and effect. My boss let me go because he wanted to save money by hiring his current wife to do my job. That's cause and effect. But when people say that everything happens for a reason, it seems to me that they're saying that God is manipulating our lives and causing things to happen. That we're just pawns in the universe waiting for God to decide what's going to happen next. That kind of thinking is wrong. It makes God a sadistic sort of being, inflicting pain and disease and earthquakes. And somehow it takes away our free will. And the mystery of everything."

Josie realized her cappuccino was getting cold. She took a big gulp, then a large bite of her scone.

"Well, that was quite a little speech. Didn't know you had such convictions, Josie the meek, the compliant." Priscilla was now almost speaking in a whisper. Somehow, in spite of her words, she sounded a bit nicer.

"Stop telling me who I am, Priscilla. Stop telling me how subservient I am. Look, when I need to I will tell people what I really think. And I really think it's stupid and wrong to tell people that everything happens for a reason. Unless you're talking about cause and effect. Which nobody is, in my opinion. Listen. We have free will. We're human beings, not pawns in the universe."

"Look, Josie, I think when people say that everything happens for a reason they're trying to make us feel better, make themselves feel better."

Josie thought for a moment. "I guess you're right, but I just don't like it. It's a platitude. There's no thought behind it. But I'm glad I ran into you. I'm glad I ran into Adele yesterday. I'm glad I had a chance to say what I think. Couldn't do that in my former job. And since I, like everyone else, has free will, I'm going to use it right now. I'm going to go looking for a new job, and I'm going to get one. And I'm not going to be a doormat."

"There. See. You met Adele, and you met me. You learned something from talking to us. You clarified your own beliefs. You made a decision. Everything happens for a reason."

By Anita G. Gorman

From: United States

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