Today I could kick a puppy. I am frustrated because the internet-cable man knocked on the door right as I was falling asleep. I need the rest but I need the Internet working better plus the TV and telephone are on the blink. He took three hours to get things working but when he left, the TV quit working. I called the company only to wait on the line for 20 minutes for someone to answer and ask for all my information. Then we got disconnected. I called again and went through the ritual to be disconnected again, and on the fifth time I was able to talk to a man who said he was sending another man to the house on Saturday. I told him Saturday was no good; I would be gone all day. I pleaded to make it any other day, but he said that it was not possible. It could only be Saturday, unless…. I call another number. I hung up and called the number to have a machine asking me for all my information and then hung up on me.
I gave up. Forget the TV. I wasted another hour being mad that my down time was stolen. So I watched on the computer a documentary about the massacre of Nanking, China in 1937. The Japanese invaded the city and killed over 200,000 people within six days. They raped over 40,000 women and girls. One missionary, Minne Vautrin, did everything she could to shelter girls in her college and saved thousands, but a few years later, she emotionally collapsed and returned to the States. One night alone in her small apartment she put her head in a gas stove and left a note saying she wished she could have done more. I am calling the cable service again and have been waiting over 25 minutes. As every minutes passes I am angrier, but I can’t seem to relish the rage like before.
Submitted by Andrew McMillan, Medellin, Colombia