Been hearing a number of domestic disputes through my apartment ceiling lately, accompanied by a lot of shouting, crying, and stomping sounds. If the voices are anything to go by, it's a mother and an older daughter. I wish there was something I could do to help resolve whatever problem they're going through, but for the time being I try to listen, and gauge if anyone's being physically hurt... and keep the phone at the ready if I heard anything that suggested that the police should get involved.
Anyway, while this was going on this evening, a bit of an old memory resurfaced from one of the less-than-pleasant moments of my childhood, which ended in me calling the police on my mother. I've forgotten most of that stretch of my life, both since it happened a long time ago, and probably out of the same coping mechanism that's responsible for my general stoicism. Things came back gradually, like something floating up out of a murky lake, but it was extremely vivid. I could remember the shouting, could see the yellowed plastic phone on the wall with its coiled chord, and even the smell from the dirty, stained carpet. Very rarely do I have sharp memories of things... and the whole memory kind of blindsided me. Suddenly I was feeling the same queasy mix of fear and anxiety that 10-year-old me had back then... and am still feeling bits of it as I write this.
I really, really hate seeing or hearing shouting matches and threats of violence, especially between family members. It's not how you ought to handle things with people you care about, or really with anyone. Every time I run into one, I have to grit my teeth and try hard to keep myself from going over and getting in the middle of it... and at times I have, if just to give them long enough of a pause to realize what they're doing. I've been around it long enough to know that loosing your cool in those cases only causes pain and regret.
Ugh, people.
Author
Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9716570 times)