Steemit Engagement Challenge S12W4 | Decide, act and release

One thing though, is that time has changed and so has mischief. Mischief in the era when I was a child was knocking on the door of the neighbors and then running away.

Oh yes, hiding your father's newspaper saying that it was never delivered, not to mention putting flour in his socks. The best was putting ”Big Tom Thumb” fire crackers in the neighbors metal post boxes.

Oh gosh, there was this time when my brother and I “collected” the milk coupons from the bottles that my mother put out for the milkman. One for the milkman and one for us. Mom could not understand why, for days, she only received one bottle of milk instead of two. She could also not phone the dairy as all the phones in our area were not working.

She even set her alarm to get up early so that she could ask the milkman, but she kept on missing him. It was only when she was cleaning my brother's room one morning that she found them. We were using them as goons for a finger board game we made ourselves.

Gone are those days, but the memories of my parents forgiving us will remain with me forever.

Am I a person who likes to carry a grudge?

Nope! Not at all. I don’t like conflict.

Holding a grudge is like a two-way street. There is anger in the grudge holder and also anger in the person against whom the grudge is held.

One of my icons is Elon Musk. Not because he is also from South Africa, but for what he stands for in life. He doesn’t care about what others say or think about him. Something that all of us can learn who are so oversensitive or "touchy,” as my stepson would say.

Elon once said, “Life is too short for long-term grudges.”

Wiser words than these will not easily be found when it comes to grudges.

I always tell people, let’s forgive, forget and move on. They forgive, they move on, BUT they never forget.

My story:

Not so long ago I wrote a post in which I mentioned my dad and the cars he liked to drive. Well, he was a car lover. His cars were like his hair to a woman, always neat, the latest style, and not to be touched.

It was a Sunday afternoon and like all “old people” my parents also like to take a Sunday afternoon nap. I was about twelve years old.

“Today is the day that I am going to drive my dad’s car.” I told myself. I had my sister bursting out in tears and my brother threatening me that he was going to run away if I get behind that steering wheel. Of course, I didn’t listen to them.

I got into the car where it was parked in the street, started it, and slowly drove forward. A couple of meters away, it just died. To my horror I couldn’t get it into reverse gear. I was stuck. The only thing I could do was call the kids from the neighborhood to push me and the car around the block.

After a lot of pleading and promises of doing their homework for them they started to push the car to the end of the street, left and down the hill to the next stop, left into another street and all the way to the next stop street, where I steered left again. Now it was tricky, as it was a bit of an uphill. At last, we made it to the top and I turned left into our street.

As I sighed in relief I noticed that my siblings were no longer standing alone on the pavement. Beside them stood my father. When the kids saw him they all just left me and the car running for their homes. Dad had to come and fetch me and his car. He did not say one word. It was only later that night that he told me to go unpack my bag. A bag that stood ready for the school camp I was going to go on the next morning. No longer was I allowed to join my schoolmates.

I quickly realized that the only thing that was going to help me through this sticky situation was to ask his forgiveness. I asked over and over again, but he just shook his head. This time I was the one crying as I made my way to bed.

I was sure that the devil was going to come and fetch me that evening.

The first thing I saw the next morning when my mother woke me up was my bag and sleeping bag at the foot of my bed. I was forgiven!

Friends, it takes so little to forgive or to ask for forgiveness, but once done, it can move mountains. Let’s all learn to take a moment to decide, to act, and to feel the pressure of unhappiness release.

^{Image Source}

I invite: @sailawana @hotspotitaly @ukpono @moyeon

CC: @dove11 @isha-rehman @abdul-rakib @elrazi @karobiamin71

Account summary:
Club100
Transfer to vesting: 1,954.000 STEEM
Normal transfer: 31 STEEM (Contest prizes and charity)