Life
Kenton Recorder
September 3, 2009
B3
How do we deal with the unfairness of life? Sooner or later we know that life is not fair. It never was. It never will be. Though that fact infuriates us at times, we are powerless to change it. Rather, it presents us with the challenge of what to do with such a life or with the cynical attitude it often engenders. Even though we may be religious-minded people, God does not step in to make our lives fair. Earth is not heaven. Earth is not where all unfairness is righted. As analyst Robert A. Johnson puts it, “The world is not supposed to work. All it does effectively is produce consciousness.” It is to wake us up before we die. It is to create situations that can potentially form us by how we choose and how our egos deal with the inequities that surround us. Spiritually we are called upon to discover that life is a mystery and a paradox. We’re forged by it,
One of the important questions we must ask ourselves at times – and which serves as an indicator of whether we’re becoming cynical through our experience of unfairness, or more whole – is, “How do I behave in the face of things I cannot change?” formed by it, made whole by it. Unfairness is such a part of the fabric of life that the most noble spiritual leaders who have lived among us have all been treated unfairly. In fact, it contributed to their nobility. Are we to expect to be treated better than they? Do they not try to teach us how to transcend unfairness? One of the important questions
we must ask ourselves at times – and which serves as an indicator of whether we’re becoming cynical through our experience of unfairness, or more whole – is, “How do I behave in the face of things I cannot change? In the face of things that are obviously unfair?” One of the best real-life examples in someone else’s life was the example George Will wrote of years ago in Newsweek. It was about his son Jon, the oldest of four children. Jon had just turned 21 years old and his father characterized him as a happy and active young man. Yet a crucial fact was that Jon has Down syndrome. George wrote, “… this is a chromosomal defect involving degrees of mental retardation and physical abnormalities.” Then we wrote of his son’s condition words we might all remember, “Jon lost, at the instant
he was conceived, one of life’s lotteries, but he was also lucky. “His physical abnormalities do not impede his vitality and his retardation is not so severe that it interferes with life’s essential joys – receiving love, returning it, and reading baseball box scores. Jon has seen a brother two years younger surpass him in size, get a driver’s license, and leave for college, and although Jon would be forgiven for shaking his fist at the universe, he has been equable. I believe his serenity is grounded in his sense that he is a complete Jon and that is that.” George Will and his family evidently love son Jon very much. He approaches head-on the unfairness of life wrought in their own family, and for Jon, accepting the fact that, through no fault of his own, “Jon lost one of life’s lotteries.” It’s most probable that you and I have already lost some of life’s
various lotteries, and may lose some more. Does Father Lou that need to be Guntzelman an utter catastrophe? In fact, it is Perspectives not winning all the lotteries that most tests our mettle. There’s a short prayer we might offer for ourselves when life’s unfairness gets in our face: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Father Lou Guntzelman is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Reach him at columns@community press.com or contact him directly at P.O. Box 428541, Cincinnati, OH 45242. Please include a mailing address or fax number if you wish for him to respond.
Be on the lookout for moisture conditions in your house When you own a home, it’s always a good idea to get regular termite inspections to prevent possible infestation. But a Tristate couple who got termite treatment 10 years ago, and regular inspections since then, says they were shocked to find termites had returned with a vengeance. Debbie Harpring and her husband, Todd, had bought a termite inspection and protection plan and recently started remodeling their bedroom. “The contractor said, ‘What is that dip in your floor?’ We had to take everything out of the room. Todd said, ‘I don’t know,
Howard Ain Hey Howard!
n e v e r noticed it – t h a t ’ s where the bed has always b e e n . ’ They said w e l l , we’ve got termites,” Debbie
said. The termites were in the same spot back in 1999. At the time of that last treatment the Harprings had bought inspection and damage repair plans, so they called the termite treatment company. “The inspector came out and informed us right away
it was not their problem, it was our problem because there’s too much moisture,” Debbie said. The moisture is in the crawlspace underneath their house and it’s that moisture that attracts termites. Yet, the contract with the treatment company specifically excludes coverage if there’s moisture. “I didn’t know if we had moisture before or after. I had no idea because nobody ever said anything to us about moisture being in the crawlspace,” Debbie said. The termite treatment company had conducted inspections three times a year – but they were only checking a termite baiting
were no termites – and that was never done,” she said. So I contacted the termite extermination company, which sent out an independent inspector. He found inactive termite mud tubes and signs of other destructive insects still in the crawlspace. He concluded moisture, as well as termites, caused more than $9,300 damage to the house. The termite treatment company told me it values its long relationship with the Harpring family and so has agreed to pay for the full amount of repairs – both from the termites and moisture – even though it is excluded from its contract.
system located in areas around the house. No one ever checked under the home, in the crawlspace where the termites had been found in the past. There is an access panel to the crawlspace right out back so no one has to be home for the inspectors to check. Debbie Harpring said she was quite surprised to learn termites are back and that they had done considerable damage to her home. This occurred even though she was supposed to get regular inspections. “I think that’s what the whole contract is about, they’re supposed to inspect my home to make sure there
Bottom line, everyone should be aware of, and look out for, any moisture conditions in and around their house – particularly crawlspaces. Moisture can attract termites as well as lead to a number of other problems including mold. Troubleshooter Howard Ain answers consumer complaints and questions weekdays at 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on WKRC-TV Local 12. You can write to him at Hey Howard, 12 WKRC-TV, 1906 Highland Ave., Cincinnati 45219.
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