Summary

The story opens at a large room at a Hyatt hotel, where the main character, Neil Yaniky is attending a self-help seminar. Soon after the seminar presentation begins, Tom Rodgers, the founder and organizer of the seminar, takes the stage. He has the crowd chant the seminar’s signature mantra: “Now Is the Time for Me to Win” (71). He goes on to say that the key to success and inner peace is to distance oneself from those who ask for help that would be inconvenient. Tom gives his own personal example: After his brother became paralyzed in a motorcycle accident, Tom refused to be the one to take care of his brother, instead demanding that his sister take on that responsibility. He states that it would have been unfair of him to interrupt his own personal plans to help someone else. He further states...