Story Bazaar

Love and Unity

Dedicated to: Audra Michelle Kee

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When Sam's parents died, he'd moved in with his grandfather.

Two more different males would be hard to find.

Grandfather let Sam do whatever he wanted when outside the home, since Sam was indeed a young adult; but, inside the home, Sam had to learn a few rules. The hardest one to follow was to not talk people down, which Grandfather called "backbiting".

Today had witnessed one of their most intense discussions about this issue.

Grandfather: "How was your day, Sam?"

Sam: Not too bad, Gramps; but, Pete at work can't do anything right. Sometimes I think he's screwing up just to cause as much trouble as he can."

G: "He can't do Anything right?"

S: "Right, he's as dumb as a brick."

G: "Dumb as a brick..."

S: "Gramps, come on, you know what I mean---he's always acting stupid."

G: "Always?"

S: "Geez, why is it so damned hard to talk to you?"

G: Well, Sam, have you considered it may hurt me to hear you refer to another human as always stupid, not able to do anything right, and dumb as a brick?"

S: "Hurt You? I don't get it..."

G: "You didn't know my father..."

S: "Met him once, but sure didn't know him..."

G: "He could seem to be the nicest man when out in public; but, at home, he couldn't seem to stop himself from railing against all of humanity, one human at a time.

"The fact is, once they'd interacted with him a few times, folks could sense this in him, even if they'd never experienced his behavior at home. Unless they had to associate with him because of business, they avoided spending more than a few minutes talking to him.

"I doubt most of those who shunned him knew why they suddenly needed to be somewhere else, because he could act like he was sweet as a buttercup."

S: "Well, O.K.... so your dad did it all the time?"

G: "Yes, he even spewed hatred at businesses and organizations and the weather and God."

S: "Well, I don't do it All the time, do I?"

G: "No, Sam, but doing it at all harms you, deep in your soul---my father died an extremely lonely man..."

Grandfather promptly left the room and Sam fell into a trance of internal investigation...

~~~

Talks like this happened about once a month with various members of Grandpa's extended family being introduced as the star offenders of moral etiquette.

Sam began to wonder how his grandfather had turned out to be so loving... He also began to wonder how Grandpa could still stand to be around him---put up with his behavior...

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Over the next year Grandfather began to suffer more and more from his maladies of aging---Sam began to treasure his talks with him, wished they could last longer, happen more often...

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Grandfather died...

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Sam got married...

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Sam struggled in his life---fought with himself to be internally moral until he finally attained love for and unity with all other humans...

This amazing transformation came in a rush, like a sudden payoff for all the gritty moral work over the years; and, it burst from his heart the moment he saw his daughter's first child---a boy...

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