Indignation

Bouquet of Anger

A good indignation brings out all one's power ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I was searching for a picture of anger, I came across the photo above, named a bouquet of anger. On a closer look, I think it's aptly named because of the wild arrangement of prickly and thorny foliage.

After Merlyn left, I had two part times who alternately helped me around the house. On Christmas Day, of all days, one decided to switch with the other. To be honest, I didn't expect them to show up at all on Christmas. To make a long story short, the one who's supposed to come didn't call me till 5pm, said she was sick. The other one said she was already out doing choir practice. Fine.

The thing that got me fuming was both claimed the other had asked for the switch. It smelled fishy. One thing I looked for in any working relationship was reliability and trust. When the weekday one showed up yesterday, she could not look me in the eye. No remorse, no apology.

The result? I fired her on the spot.

I thought I would panic without help, but the overwhelming feeling was that of empowerment. I wasn't 100 % pleased with their work, but I really didn't want to mop the floor either. I gritted my teeth and did all the housework I abhor on Boxing Day. It wasn't that bad.

Actually this episode was a well learnt lesson on conditioning. I was conditioned to rely on someone else to do "whatever"for me. The conditioning went beyond hired help to working partners gone MIA. I thought there was only one person who was capable, but billions of people in this world had the caliber, if not more, to perform the same work. It might not be a bad thing when one ended, perhaps there were undercurrents I had not noticed all along.

I also kept forgetting there's always this one person I could rely on, Me. A well learnt lesson in 2009. Looking forward, exercising my muscle in self reliance would be foremost on my New Year's resolution list. It ain't all bad in the end.

(photo http://www.static.dezeen.com/)