Crushing Lemons
Posted on February 1, 2018

I've never hated anyone. 

I didn't hate my wife when she left me for another man after ten years of marriage. She found someone else who can handle her incessant complaining about me not making enough money, not being good enough, and a ton of other failings. When she divorced me, I still didn’t hate her. She eventually married the guy. I kind of feel sorry for him.

I didn't hate my son when he stole money from me. When my son was born, I took pride in sharing my name with him. Never would I have imagined that he would pose as me at my bank, wearing a suit and presenting a valid ID, and stealing my money. I forgave him that time he withdrew twenty thousand, and the next time when he took ten more. But when he was caught trying to forge my signature on a personal loan for fifty thousand dollars, no amount of begging would keep him out of prison. Even then, I didn't hate my son.

I didn't hate my brother for having opened a restaurant with me as a partner and then leaving the country with all our cash withdrawn from our shared business account. He’s living like a king in Mexico, and I have a stained credit history. Bankruptcy wasn't a part of my plans, nor were the financial and legal troubles that followed, but I still didn't hate my brother.

I didn't despise my boss when he fired me after twenty years of service in the I.T. department of his retail company, only to be replaced by his younger cousin who had five years experience in marketing, nothing close to what’s required for the job. And when his cousin ran the department into the ground, and they begged me to come back, which I didn't, even then I didn't hate my boss.

They were all like cancers, and you really can’t hate cancer. It does no good. All you can do is hope the cancers all go away. For me, I’m lucky they did.

None of these things matter. What matters is that today, after twelve years of jiu-jitsu training three times a week, like religion, I am finally getting my black belt. 

Life is good.  



2 comments:

  1. Congrats on getting your black belt! It sounds like you put in a lot of hard work and are now getting the reward for it!

    … Thank goodness you don't hate any of the people who "stole" (both literal and figurative) from you, otherwise they could be in trouble!

    With Love,
    Mandy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Although it would have been great to be a black belt in anything, really, this guy is all made up. I'd like to think that if I were in his shoes, that's how I'd handle these issues. I'd CRUSH'em! :-D

      Delete


FREE eBook!
Get your copy of
The Box of Souls
for FREE!




Follow Me









Search Blog Archives