Abe grabs the toy. Zana, with an unfazed matter a fact demeanor, leans in and takes a chomp out of her brother's most accessible appendage. A big whooping Twilight size bite. We are talking little teeth, big bruises. This happened many moons ago and now I watch a much wiser Abe run around the room with Zana's jaws gaping open, chasing after him. There are usually tears (sometimes due to discipline) and then everyone goes back to playing cars, or trains, or little people, or duplo. Life moves on.
Honestly I sometimes wish I could use the same conflict management that Zana uses. Hubster is unkind so I lean over and bite him. Hard. But of course good sound Biblical reasoning hones in on that idea with clarity that if I bite and devour then I better watch out or I might get eaten myself. So I refrain.
This week was rather horrid around here. No one beating themselves but the preaching continued and then heaviness and drumming and then below us screaming. There are two families. They live so close together that most Americans would consider them living in a shelter. Here they are rich. There are 7 adults and one teenager living in two rooms, a small porch area, a corridor kitchen and a closest bathroom. In the other home, which is just a room with a small kitchen under the main stairs and a bathroom outside their front door, lives three adults and a toddler. I cannot over emphasize that their space is minuscule and yet their social economic status is high.
These two neighbors got into a fight. A knock down drag out fight. I can hear my upstairs neighbors using their bathrooms so you can imagine that I can hear my friends downstairs. Peace and then suddenly all erupts! There was yelling, banging, swearing. One lady went into the other home and grabbed tables and chairs and started throwing things out. Someone kept yelling, "Don't hit, Don't hit." It was ugly. They called the police. I am not sure who. I haven't asked any questions. I am not taking a side. There was heat on both sides. They are from two vastly different sects of Islam. They usually live in peace. We drink chai together, we talk, we sit, we clean rice, we live, but now there are two doors shut and the shared space where motorcycles and a car park is quiet as a tomb. The tomb of a dead friendship.
I guess biting is not worth it.
How can I build up instead today?
Honestly I sometimes wish I could use the same conflict management that Zana uses. Hubster is unkind so I lean over and bite him. Hard. But of course good sound Biblical reasoning hones in on that idea with clarity that if I bite and devour then I better watch out or I might get eaten myself. So I refrain.
This week was rather horrid around here. No one beating themselves but the preaching continued and then heaviness and drumming and then below us screaming. There are two families. They live so close together that most Americans would consider them living in a shelter. Here they are rich. There are 7 adults and one teenager living in two rooms, a small porch area, a corridor kitchen and a closest bathroom. In the other home, which is just a room with a small kitchen under the main stairs and a bathroom outside their front door, lives three adults and a toddler. I cannot over emphasize that their space is minuscule and yet their social economic status is high.
These two neighbors got into a fight. A knock down drag out fight. I can hear my upstairs neighbors using their bathrooms so you can imagine that I can hear my friends downstairs. Peace and then suddenly all erupts! There was yelling, banging, swearing. One lady went into the other home and grabbed tables and chairs and started throwing things out. Someone kept yelling, "Don't hit, Don't hit." It was ugly. They called the police. I am not sure who. I haven't asked any questions. I am not taking a side. There was heat on both sides. They are from two vastly different sects of Islam. They usually live in peace. We drink chai together, we talk, we sit, we clean rice, we live, but now there are two doors shut and the shared space where motorcycles and a car park is quiet as a tomb. The tomb of a dead friendship.
I guess biting is not worth it.
How can I build up instead today?
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