Edward's Diary Entry 7 - Social Interlude

When to fight?

Meanwhile, back of the social life scene, testosterone levels sometimes get out of hand. The other evening Ximena and I were approaching a restaurant terrace to have a drink when an acquaintance of ours spontaneously signed up for a wine with us. He said it was his birthday. So of course we couldn’t refuse. He was already tipsy, as he is retired and drinks quite a lot. He ordered a red wine. The “conversation”, if it could be called that, was pretty dense. He complained about this and that, he was vehemently critical of the waiter, with whom he had had a disagreeable encounter a few months back, his stream of (un)consciousness kept meandering and suddenly returning to his long list of complaints against life and humanity. Quite a fragmented mind, poor fellow, but every now and then the memory of his birthday and our combined smiles seemed to encourage him to be positive for a few seconds. We were practising charity in having him with us. Yet despite all his pent-up anger, frustration, hatred (he verbally abused a flower seller because of his skin colour and probably his religion), he inadvertently let fall a few words of wisdom. This is the thing about practising attention or Awareness. Whatever the situation, or however ridiculous it may seem, there is always something good to be gained. Our drunkard, many decades ago, had attended the Pilarist’s School, founded by the Marianist Order, and he suddenly remembered their motto, which decreed that to our elders we owe “love, respect and obedience”, whereas to those younger than us, we should give “love, respect and correction – if they deserve it!” So as the meanderings progressed, he suddenly remembered he had once wanted to pick a fight with me – over some kind of misunderstanding that had happened with another friend of his. So I took him by his word, and said, no, I can only apply the Pilarists injunction and can never fight with or hit anyone older than me. Nor can I hit anyone younger than me. So the only possibility would be to find somebody who had been born at exactly the same time as me on the same day and in the same year – even at the same or a nearby longitude and latitude – and then maybe we could be called “equals” and possibly come to blows. Other than that, I argued, his Pilarist injunction could only ensure non-violence. So when alcohol levels or testosterone levels increase, our commitment to the virtue of Ahimsa, or non-violence, must also increases correspondingly. And of course it starts with thought, then word, then deed… Cheers!