Dirty linen being aired in public

LIVING in an apartment building – with neighbours left, right, below and above your flat – opens you up to many and varied scenarios. Some sad, some bad and some, downright disgraceful.

It can become a very literal, regular event where “dirty linen is aired in public”. People that you see all calm and placid when you are together in a cramped lift sometimes turn out to be raving, foul- mouthed characters once they are ensconced in the supposed privacy of their four walls.

I recall one example when a couple in a nearby flat were having a rather heated argument but the dominant voice was that of the wife. The words she harangued her husband with would make a seasoned sailor blush. Someone was bold enough to phone security and complain of the aural intrusion of privacy.

When the proposed peacemaker knocked at the door and confronted the couple about the noise, the vixen told him to leave as she was in her own property. It takes a brave person to tell on a neighbour as you are living in close quarters. There could be reprisals. Your tyres could mysteriously be slashed. Or foreign dents may appear on your car’s body.

You ask yourself, what happened to that couple? The filthy mouths that spewed out vitriol, once upon a time spoke words of love to each other. At the beginning they never raised their voices to each other but rather cooed softly in each other’s ears.

Recently, I was witness to one of those fracas, involving one of my neighbours. They had just moved in, with their little kid, a few months ago. Before that day, we had never heard a peep or a squeak from them.

On the day, a heated argument ensued. Actually, it was very one-sided, as you could not hear a word from the man. The woman skilfully used variations of the F-word that I had never heard before, not even in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

The thing that got to me that time was that, in between her diatribe was the little voice of their child. He kept saying “Keep quiet Mommy”. He obviously has more sense than her. His request got more persistent and then it happened.

Her tirade was then directed at the little boy. She berated him and said he was the cause of all the unhappiness in the family and vented all her frustration on the innocent child.

Think about this. At one time that same couple got together and, in a manifestation of the love they had for each other, created that little man. At one time he was their bundle of joy. Now he had turned into a verbal punching bag. How sad.

Throughout the world you have situations like the above. There is a universal lack of love and affection in mankind. In many and varied ways, you see it when you shop, when you drive, indeed, when you live.

An argument between long-time friends can end up being violent. An innocent braai can turn deadly when a cooking utensil becomes an instrument of death.

We need to go back to basics.

Teachers, religious leaders and community stalwarts must be extra- conscious of continuing to inculcate principles and ethics in their “followers” – for want of a better word.

An Almighty change has to occur in our lives.

We need God back in our lives. We have moved too far away from the Supreme Being.