thin king

Hello hellos,

Reciprocate ricochet boomerang

Ed and Joe were buddies.
They lost touch with each other for some years.
These two shared a strange relationship.
They were friends who jibed at each other more
out of their relationship than what friends do.
One day they passed each other on the golf course at a distance.
Joe recognized Ed first, so he shouted to Ed and waved his arm.
Ed looked and saw Joe shouting at him with his arm in the air,
unable to hear what Joe was shouting.
So, Ed also raised his arm and shouted back,
"The very same to you."
That aptly settled whatever was intended.

Long ago a famous scientist theorized,
"For every action there is an equal reaction."


"I love the wonderful mangoes from my neighbour's tree,
so I buy durians for him when the mango is in season."

"I wish people 'Good morning first, to get it going'. "

"She does not usually smile.
So, when I smile at her she smiles back."

There is a maxim,
"Do unto others as you would others do unto you."


There is another maxim,
"Do not unto others as you would
others not do unto you."

"I do not want her to attend my party,
so if I do not go to hers she will not come to my."

"Do not give their children angpows,
or they will give angpows to our grown ups."

"I will not cheat anybody,
because I do not like to be cheated"


Do all these sayings make people adopt the simple
habit of reciprocating in our day to day relationships?

"My neighbour gave us bakchang,
so I gave her mooncakes."

"Her mother made us a butter cake,
so I must bake them a pudding."

"She paid for my lunch,
so I treated her to tea and ice cream."


Is reciprocating a good way to respond
to a favour or a gift?
Reciprocating does quickly pay off all
the good intentions.
Would not the usual 'much obliged' or a
'thank you' do?
Reciprocating should not be a burden
to devalue a friendship.
Goodwill and kindness do not seek
any sort of payment.
Reciprocating makes ricocheting balls
out of people.


There is also a saying,
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"He thumped the floor at night,
so I turned my radio loud loud."

They let car wash past my gate,
so I showed them hand signs.

"They bullied and killed us,
so we suicide-bombed them."

"They bombed us,
so we terrorised them."

A famous leader had to remind his people,
"A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye,
this will make us all toothless and blind."


Have a nice Sunday.
Ronald