[Wondergirl]

First published: April 16, 2012

My name is Sean, and I live in Germany. I am a heartbroken geologist. I made a few mistakes and mistook gold to be comparable with an uncut diamond. That is one unfortunate mistake even a geologist can make when it comes to romance.

After my heart broke, I completely failed to do anything else. My cognitive ability was in such a mess that I could not recognize the difference between addition and multiplication. I could not even stand up. I was distraught.

As stupid as life sometimes is, I had a work assignment due in eight days. As I was choking on my own bile, I could not get myself together enough to type in the command to start the data analysis I was supposed to do, let alone the complex algorithm I had to come up with as the final result.

I recently came to AskMeHelpDesk, along with a few other Internet sites, with a mayday call. It was a serious mayday call, and I did not want my friends (most of them my colleagues) to be affected by my problems. By deciding to come to the Internet, I expected that people who would at all care to read my message–and thereafter answer me–had the time for that sort of thing.

It was a serious mayday, as I mentioned. However, as an effect of paramilitary training that I happen to possess, I immediately (and automatically, if I may add) got the “thought” that I needed to survive for eight days in order to finish my work assignment. Hence I posted my mayday call.

AMHD turned out to be the community that was full of responses. The primary word that I can use to describe the experience is that it was engaging. Many responded, and in their own ways.

In the one hand, it is true that the answers were exactly outside of what I had asked, or a repeat of the same things 83 times. It is true that the answers did not touch my questions in any way. They did not assist me to answer the burning question that was (and is still) tormenting my soul and supposedly holds the key to my happiness and peace.

On the other hand, AMHD members took it upon themselves to respond. They engaged me in the discussion. They even took the time to correct my grammar and spelling.

Yet another thing to note is their tenacity. They kept on holding to their points. Although it hurt me, by deliberately ignoring what I was asking for and overriding my requests, I could not help noticing how they stuck to their points.

Yes, their tenacity gained my respect for those members who took the time to respond to my call for help.