Lord, please help me to change - Judith Couchman

Refusing to change often damagesourselves and those around us.am a man who , from hi s youth upwards , ha s been fille dwith a profound convictio n tha t th e easies t wa y of lif e isthe best, " bega n th e narrato r i n Herma n Melville' s short story ,"Bartleby th e Scrivener. " The narrato r describe d himsel f a s a n"unambitious lawyer " and a n "eminentl y sa/eman " who neve rargued a court case and catere d t o the will s and other lega l need sof the wealthy. 'At the tur n o f th e century , thi s lawye r employed scriveners ,men wh o copied lega l documents b y hand. A common practic einvolved one ma n readin g from the origina l document whil e oth -ers checked thei r copied version s for accuracy.That wa s the fu n part . Mos t o f th e time , scrivener s kep ttheir head s ben t ove r detailed manuscripts , copying . Thus, th elawyer and hi s tw o copyists carried o n busines s i n a monotonou sand predictabl e manner .They weren't prepare d fo r Bartleby .Business grew , and th e lawye r hired Bartleb y t o assis t wit hcopying. A t first, Bartleb y spen t lon g hour s writing , da y an dnight, i n a sullen, mechanica l manner . Th e lawye r didn't mind ,12