I shouldn't have been surprised. Living as her neighbor for the past decade, I should've been accustomed to that angry high pitched voice, but I guess I can never get used to negativity in any form. In the past one decade, I had tried reason, logic, friendship but had finally accepted the reality that my senior citizen neighbor was too old to change. Actually I believe in human ability to change at any point in life, so I will rephrase and say that her unwillingness to change.
I heard a loud bang as she kicked a door somewhere in her house. Her venomous tongue was still spewing poison. I tried to close my ears to no avail. I knew something of the sort was coming when I got an invitation to the neighborhood club meeting which I politely declined three days ago. I sometimes attend these meetings to keep in touch but usually excuse myself from them. The petty chatter and gossip that is the main ingredient of these social gatherings simply bore me. I'd rather pick up a history book or watch National Geographic Channel on my tv. My neighbor, on the other hand never misses one. She loves these social get togethers.
Oh my, there goes another loud bang! I hope she did not break something valuable in her rage! Part of me wanted to pity the miserable soul next door but the empathy evaporated with the sound of her next cursing words reaching my ears while breaching all boundaries of privacy. She had returned from the club gathering fifteen minutes ago and since then was ranting about a lady, our mutual neighbor. The source of all this ranting, yelling and screaming was the Coach purse that our mutual neighbor had carried to the meeting. For the past fifteen minutes, my neighbor was going crazy and screaming that the Coach purse was not genuine and how she could not stand people who carried fake name brands to get a social standing!
I could clearly picture the scene in her household at the moment. I knew that her retired husband must have found refuge in his study the moment she had started raising her voice. That was his only safe haven under such circumstances, although she would even barge in there on days when someone would dare talk back to her and then her fury would see no end.
I tried to divert my attention in order not to listen to her rancor, but my thoughts kept asking;
Why was this women making her life so miserable over other peoples' choices? She had more than most people dreamed to achieve in their life times. She was in sound health, was secure with a fat bank balance, was blessed with a life long loving partner and her children were all well settled with children of their own. Why was she not happy? Why were there screaming noises coming out of her house instead of the sound of laughter? Where was all this poison coming from? What was it that she really wanted? What was making her so vicious?
With a heavy heart I realized that it was her own doing! No one or nothing was ever going to change her because she did not want to change herself. She was perfect in her eyes and she wanted to make everyone and everything else perfect according to her desires. She had everything but she wanted even more! She wanted absolute control...over others!
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