thin king

Good morning,


Eternal Enemies & Perpetual Conflicts


In the vast fertile plains of Serengeti in Tanzania, Africa, there
live many kinds of animals. And as in any animal kingdom,
animals prey on animals. Out of the many predators, two share
an unique relationship from the others; the lion, the king of the
jungle, and the hyena, the mean-looking little fellow which stood
up against the king. These two are notable because they are
eternal enemies; the majestic king and the tiny ferocious carpetbag
of toothy ugliness. A lion can easily kill a hyena, so can a pack of
hyenas bring down a lion. In a land where the supply of prey is
inexhaustible, in the form of the huge herd of wildebeests, it is really
unimaginable why these two predators should be enemies. But the
fact is that they are, and they will always be, eternal enemies.
Who can explain why?

In the human world, there is a parallel enigma, the perpetual
conflict between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. Who is
to explain how and why they are as they are. Searching back
through history is not likely to reveal any answer, as history will
uncover more of this conflict. Just as fictitious stories about this
abound, factual stories about it are just as many.

There was a case where a forbearing father tried to bring peace
to this conflict. He presented a scroll with a beautiful calligraphy
containing a single Chinese character, the character meaning
Tolerance. Alas, this proved futile.

"I say this for your own good".
"Don't be kaypoh".
"I don't care".
"You are spoiling them".
"You should improve".
"This is my life".
"You should change".
"Why do you do this?"
"I am not doing anything wrong".
"Aiyah, what have you done?"
"I don't like this".
"I am doing my best".
"I do what I want".
"You are doing wrong to the family".
"Mind your own business".

Words like these hit and stay, and it is difficult to relate who
said what. Who is right and who is wrong? Does it matter?

The peace-maker gave up.
He could have spent the money on a cruise instead.

Human nature is very complex to fathom because the problem
appears simple enough. And a very fact is that daughters become
mothers-in-law too and have their own daughters-in-law; and this
transition does not happen very far down the road. So, why cannot
they break this cycle of perpetual conflict? Why do they propagate
this bickering to their own misery?

Lions and hyenas are eternal enemies in the animal kingdom.
Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law and perpetual conflict in
the human world. Is this a flaw or a law of nature?

Is there no one wise enough to solve this problem?.
Perhaps they are wise enough not to try!

Have a nice day.
Ronald