The other day my mom killed her home telephone line, without notice before. I always call that line when I can’t reach her by cellphone, which is 8 out of 10 calls.
I called her this evening and I know she always appreciates when I call. But, no surprise, she missed my call as her phone was accidentally on silent mode. I couldn’t try the home line so I went doing something else.
She called me back, sometime later that evening, when I was doing something else. Didn’t pick up, and she texted: “shame I missed your call! I forgot to turn on the sound, hope we can call soon as I always appreciate your calls😊.”
I replied: Too bad. Unfortunately I couldn’t try the home line. Good lesson.
My direct response triggered me and I wondered if I wasn’t too hard on her. It teaches me a lesson.
I want to be direct and confront people, especially my mother, who I respect very much. The thing is, we don’t confront people because we think they will suffer and we don’t want them to suffer (because we find it hard if someone else is suffering, weird huh)… But when we do this, we take away the opportunity for them to suffer and to get over it.
Suffering is one of the virtues in life because overcoming pain leads to happiness, pride and fulfillment.
If we refrain from suffering, in the end we cause incredible suffering within ourselves. And that’s a price you don’t want to pay.
So be honest and direct, even if it may seem unnecessary.