Quora看到的一個(gè)問(wèn)題：你經(jīng)歷的最糟糕的事情是什么？
下面是其中一個(gè)回答：
我忘記關(guān)掉車?yán)锏臒簦瑢?dǎo)致電池沒(méi)電。
那是上周五早上的事了。熬夜過(guò)后我睡著了。當(dāng)時(shí)我是一位無(wú)業(yè)老師，剛剛離婚，沒(méi)有健康保險(xiǎn)。由于我背脊骨間的軟骨層撕裂，我的腿一坐下就疼，需要?jiǎng)邮中g(shù)。
那會(huì)兒我準(zhǔn)備出去玩幾天，帶著我的皮劃艇到加拿大，在一個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)的小島野營(yíng)幾天。好好思考人生?？焖俚嘏軒紫?。去遠(yuǎn)足。試著忽視身體的疼痛、靈魂的空虛以及不存在的未來(lái)。
下午我提前打包好了一切，這樣我可以一起床就上路，因此當(dāng)我擰動(dòng)鑰匙發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)沒(méi)有反應(yīng)的時(shí)候，我感到十分惱火。我試著打開(kāi)燈，沒(méi)有反應(yīng)。我試著按喇叭，它發(fā)出了微弱的響聲后就沒(méi)有反應(yīng)了。電池完全沒(méi)電了。
我只好放棄原先的計(jì)劃。
我嘟囔著從車庫(kù)拿出了電池充電器，并將它插到了電池上。在等待的一個(gè)小時(shí)里，我坐在家里檢查電子郵件并上網(wǎng)。
我的收件箱里有一些垃圾郵件，包括一封紐約州公立學(xué)校教師招聘啟事。一個(gè)多月了，我沒(méi)有在這個(gè)學(xué)校的官網(wǎng)上看到什么有用的信息；當(dāng)時(shí)已經(jīng)過(guò)了春招，而秋招還沒(méi)開(kāi)始。啟事的正文沒(méi)有任何內(nèi)容，但我一時(shí)興起點(diǎn)了查看詳情。
在列表底部有一條廣告，招聘物理(化學(xué)/生物)老師，有五年以上經(jīng)驗(yàn)的有限，截止日期是下周一早上八點(diǎn)。不知怎地我錯(cuò)過(guò)了這個(gè)職位空缺，它已經(jīng)空缺快一個(gè)月了。我看了下地址，那是一所鄉(xiāng)村學(xué)校，距離奧爾巴尼半個(gè)小時(shí)車程，位于一個(gè)丘陵地帶。是我喜歡的地方。我看了一下路途時(shí)間，大約需要兩個(gè)小時(shí)。
如果我可以在一個(gè)小時(shí)內(nèi)拾掇整齊，準(zhǔn)備好專業(yè)材料并發(fā)動(dòng)我的汽車，那么我可以在他們下班之前趕到。如果沒(méi)有意外，那么我可以參觀一下那所學(xué)校，我確信我的求職申請(qǐng)能在周一早晨的截止日期前躺在校長(zhǎng)信箱的最上面。
我的汽車充電了一個(gè)小時(shí)才能啟動(dòng)，因此我在孩子們蜂擁著出校門(mén)進(jìn)校車的時(shí)候，到達(dá)了那所學(xué)校。在校門(mén)口，和我聊天的第一個(gè)人正好是校長(zhǎng)。他注意到了我汽車上的皮劃艇，鑒于他也是一名戶外愛(ài)好者，我們立即達(dá)成了一致。接下來(lái)是我人生中最棒的非正式面試。我是最合適的那個(gè)人。
“我們明年準(zhǔn)備換掉三分之一的員工，我們想要有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人?！?/p>
“我教了十一年書(shū)?！?/p>
“這是一所鄉(xiāng)村學(xué)校，和在城里教書(shū)不一樣?！?/p>
“是啊，我之前教書(shū)的學(xué)校就在阿迪朗達(dá)克山脈中部，實(shí)際上它比這里小得多?！?/p>
“我們的招聘啟事上寫(xiě)著要物理老師，但我們需要的人還得教另外一門(mén)科學(xué)才行。我們不確定另一門(mén)是化學(xué)還是生物。”
“這不是問(wèn)題。我有這三門(mén)的教師資格證。我還有地球科學(xué)與普通科學(xué)的教師資格證。這些課我都教過(guò)，實(shí)際上我教過(guò)好幾次。”
我在這里待了一個(gè)小時(shí)，走的時(shí)候我已經(jīng)找到了一份非常不錯(cuò)的工作。此前的壞心情都消失無(wú)蹤了。我已經(jīng)工作了十年，至今我仍舊認(rèn)為我是紐約州最幸運(yùn)的人。我有一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的部門(mén)，一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的社區(qū)，一群很好相處的孩子，一群出色的同事，一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的工作環(huán)境，不少材料及物資，以及創(chuàng)新的自由。每天早晨我起床就能呼吸到新鮮空氣，欣賞美麗的山景。上班開(kāi)車只需要五分鐘，騎自行車只需要八分鐘，走路只需要十分鐘。我出門(mén)不需要鎖家門(mén)或者車門(mén)或者自行車。我住的地方離城市很近，購(gòu)物很方便；我住的地方離城市又足夠遠(yuǎn)，不需要忍受都市生活的缺點(diǎn)。
十年后，我依舊認(rèn)為我找到了一份完美的工作。
如果我的汽車在那天早晨啟動(dòng)了，那么我將與它擦肩而過(guò)。
What is the luckiest thing you've ever done?
I forgot to turn off the lights in my car and killed the battery.
It was a late Friday morning, I’d slept in after a late night out. I was an unemployed teacher, newly divorced, no health insurance, fighting against admitting that the pains in my legs were sciatica due to ruptured discs that needed surgery.
The plan was to get away for a few days, take my kayak up to Canada and go camping on a remote island. Think about life. Run a few rapids. Hike a little. Try to ignore the pain in my body, the emptiness in my soul, and the lack of a real future.
I’d packed everything the afternoon before so I could just get up and get on the road, so I was very annoyed when I turned the key and didn’t even get a click from the starter. I tried the lights, nope. I tried the horn, it made a weak squawk then died. Totally dead battery.
Crap.
Grumbling to myself, I got the battery charger out of the box marked “garage” on the porch of my apartment and hooked it up to the dead battery in my car. With an hour to kill, I went inside to check e-mails and cruise the net.
There was the usual pile of low priority semi-spam in my inbox, including a notification from the NY state public school teaching job message board. I hadn’t seen anything useful on the site for over a month; it was past the main April/May hiring time and before the August panic. The body of the message didn’t show anything, but on a whim I clicked on it to check out the full listings.
Near the bottom of the list there was an ad for an opening for a Physics(Chemistry/Biology) teacher, 5+ years experience preferred, deadline for applications this coming Monday at 8 AM. Somehow I’d missed hearing about this opening; it had been on the board for almost a month. I checked out the location… rural school, about a half hour away from Albany, in the foothills of the Green/Berkshire/Taconic mountains. My kind of place. I checked out the travel time… about two hours away.
If I could get cleaned up, get my professional things together and get my car to start in less than an hour then I could just about make it there before everyone left for the weekend. If nothing else, I could take a look at the place and I could make sure that my application was on the top of the pile in the principal’s inbox for the Monday morning deadline.
My car didn’t start until after a full hour on the charger, so I got to the school just as all of the kids were stampeding out the door and onto the buses. The first person I talked to out in front of the school just happened to be the principal. He noticed the kayak up on top of my car, and since he is an outdoors-person we hit it off immediately. What followed was the best non-interview interview of my life; I was the man with all of the right answers.
“We’re replacing a third of the staff next year, we could use someone with experience.”
“I’ve been teaching eleven years.”
“This is a rural school. It’s not like teaching in the suburbs.”
“Yeah, the school I taught at was in the middle of the Adirondack Mountains… much smaller than this place actually.”
“The listing says Physics, but the person we hire will need to cover another science. We’re not sure which one right now, either Chem or Bio.”
“Not a problem. I’m certified in all three of those. And Earth Science. And General Science too. And I’ve taught them all. Several times in fact.”
It went like that for the entire hour that I was there, and after it was done I drove away with a very good job in my pocket, the day before it was going to go away. After ten years in this job I still think I am one of the luckiest teachers in New York State. I have a great administration (both are former science teachers), a very supportive community, easy students to work with, excellent co-workers, a great workspace, lots of materials and supplies, and the freedom to innovate. Every morning I wake up to fresh air and a view of the mountains. My commute to work is 5 minutes by car, 8 minutes by bike, and 10 minutes by hiking through the woods. I do not need to lock my house when I leave, or lock my car or my bike on the end of the commute. I live close enough to a city that I can get a dose of culture or find things that I need when I want them, but far enough away that I don’t have to deal with the drawbacks of urban or suburban life.
Ten years later I still think that I’ve found my perfect job.
And if my car had started that morning, I’d never have found it.
