My friend Brian is a great guy. He is smart, incredibly organized, and a terrific speaker. In college he coordinated several Jewish organizations, and since then has done very well for himself in a similar capacity. He is also a family man and usually quite patient. However, some of his former roommates loved to push his buttons. One in particular, Barry really stood out amongst the rest.
One time during his junior year Brian stayed up all night typing a paper from a Judaic studies class, and then after a brief outing at Denny’s came back to put the finishing touches on it. When he entered his room he saw that Barry was rolling a joint on his final paper. Marijuana was all over the assignment, and this was before most people wrote papers with computers.
“I’m making a joint,” Barry said proudly. “You can smoke with me, and it will help you calm down.”
“That’s my final paper!” Brian yelled back.
“Oh,” Barry responded. “Sorry, I’ll wipe it off.”
“Too late.” Brian replied, and with that he ran into the suite room looking for something to hit Barry with, but there wasn’t anything. So Brian went into the bathroom and ripped down one of the metal towel racks, and came back into the bedroom ready to swing away like Derek Jeter at the world series.
“Brian what the hell are you doing?” Barry asked with increased concern.
Brian put the towel rack near Barry’s face and said menacingly, “Swing at me Barry.”
“No, It was an accident,” Barry answered. “I didn’t know it was anything important.”
Brian than screamed again “Swing at me!” The sound of which seemed to carry all over the 2nd floor. People started opening their doors to see what the commotion was all about.
“I’m going to kick your ass. Now swing at me.” Brian continued angrily.
“I will not.” Barry responded with a very stoic face.
Barry was like Gandhi he didn’t want to fight, and he didn’t want to escalate things more. Eventually the RA (Resident Assistant) came in to see what was going on.
“Is everything OK?” asked the RA.
“No, It definitely is not.” Brian replied as he threw down the towel rack in frustration and walked out. And that was how Brian got a new roommate, although he had problems with him too, but at least there was never any violence, and on a positive note Brian received an A on his paper despite the smudges
On another occasion, despite the country of Israel’s law of return, Barry was kicked out for possessing or possibly selling drugs, and ironically a few years later became a pharmacist. God help up all.
Life Lesson 36: I think the lesson of this story is to remember that respect is a two way street a la the golden rule. Treat others as you wish to be treated, and show respect towards each other and their property.
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