Love overcomes “Everyday Aggression”

When I prepared for this sharing last Saturday, firstly I searched for some meaningful stories on Google and YouTube. After I watched several stories, my son was attracted. He stood next to me and we watched together. Then it came to a story about sparrows.

One day an old father and his son were sitting in the garden. There was a sparrow on the grass. The father asked his son repeatedly “What is that?” And his son answered him several times and became very annoyed. Then the old father took out a diary and asked his son to read it. It was about a day many years ago. At that time, the son was still a small kid and kept asking the same question “What is that?” The father answered him 25 times patiently “That’s a sparrow.”.

After watching this story, my son said “This story is so meaningful!” I told him I could not share this story because it had been shared at least twice every year in my school. But this story inspired me to think about why I was so easy to be annoyed by my family members. And also, sometimes I told a student’s mother that he/she was well behaved at school on parents’ day. Usually, the mum told me he/she was totally different at home.

This was quite interesting, right? It seemed that we are more likely to hurt those closest to us. Was it true? I searched for information on this topic. I found there were some psychological studies about it. And the answer was “Yes”. This phenomenon was called “Everyday Aggression”. It was found that we had a tendency to be mean to our loved ones. But the reason behind was still unsure. Some theories suggested that maybe we spend most of our time with them. Or maybe because my family members were always my family members. That’s why we behaved naturally.

Therefore, next time when your mother scolds you, be patient, it is just “everyday aggression”. Or when you are arguing with your brothers or sisters, again, be patient, it is just “everyday aggression”. And remember, love is patient.

After I wrote this sharing, my son was eating an apple. I sat next to him and said, “It seems tasty. Do you remember that when you are still a little kid, I cut an apple into 25 pieces and feed you one by one?” And I opened my mouth. Then my son crammed the whole apple into my mouth. That’s the way he showed his love to me.

Mr Lau S.B.
7 September 2022