know better, do better
Once a man began sneezing, loud sneezes. They came on all at once, one after the other. In the ruckus, he knocked over cut flowers. The flowers were on his neighbour’s dinner table. Without pausing, the man fled into the evening air. He returned inside only after catching his breath.
The neighbour was furious. “You’ve spoiled the dinner, wretch. Apologize to my wife for this outrage.” The man felt no apology owed for the accident. He did feel slighted by his neighbour’s tone. He relented in time, in a gesture of peace.
Something similar happened visiting friends at their cottage. Loud sneezing; disgusted hosts; dinner deemed ruined. They refused to talk with the man despite his apology. As it happens, the man was himself at first upset. Had they set out something that induced his reaction? They had, but it was not intentional.
In both experiences were a combination of flowers. Not any ‘this type’ or ‘that’, but the two together. Together they triggered an allergic reaction. When we know better, we do better. Now aware, the man avoids such flowers in general. He absents himself when both are in combination.
Today, the man and his cottage friends are tolerant. It is a quiet peace, with an understanding of one another. As for the man and his neighbour, the latter built a fence. He imagined protecting his honour over a dinner ruined. True, it keeps the man safe and wards off all sneezing. It also confines his neighbour to a fence of his own making. Some are allergic by chance, some by choice.
