Cry Baby Cry

There are unmistakable moments of KARMIC JUSTICE in one's life, what the Catholic Church calls penalties for temporal sin.

Yes, you think, here it is. I'm getting it back now.

Sometimes, we already know we did a bad thing, but just didn't know how bad it was, until it was done back to us, years later.

Other times, we really didn't know what we had done, as in Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. It was only when it came back to us, that we truly beheld our original act in all of it's ugliness and utter self-centeredness.

And that's how karma works. We learn.

~~

The woman in the apartment next to mine likes to put her three-year-old in the hallway, usually once a day or so. She is obviously fucking fed up with him, cannot endure one more minute and puts him out there to avoid killing him. She places a parcel of plastic bats, balls and wheeled objects next to him, and closes the door. He's fine for --what? five minutes, ten minutes?--which we often forget is a long time for a child, the length of public school recesses. Soon, he is whiny and bored. He wants in, but she isn't ready to let him back in. She only wants a fucking break already.

How do I know what she is thinking? How indeed?

~~

The three-year-old's temper tantrum invariably starts with lots of whiny "mooooo-ooooommmm----eeeee!" and then segues into ss--sss-ssssniffing and random sobs, finally exploding into full-blown, I-Love-Lucy-style wailing. It doesn't even seem accurate to call it CRYING. No, screaming, commences.

And iron-willed mom is not giving in.

I suppose it never occurred to her that we ALL do not want to listen to the screaming? Can't she give him a lesson in independence INSIDE HER OWN APARTMENT? Why is she abusing US in the process? Is this self-centered or what? I do not want to hear a child screaming at 96-decibels for 10 minutes!

Oh, I see. Hold up.

This is what they all felt about me, when I left my screaming child outside.

Funny how that works sometimes, isn't it?