Moment of Clarity

Today is my mother-in-law’s birthday. The kids signed the card and presented to her. Đán and Xuân bickered over the card. Out of madness, Xuân ripped the card. My wife was furious. She chewed him out. He ran toward me crying. I calmly explained to him, “You shouldn’t have done that. That was not nice. You need to control yourself.”

He seemed to acknowledge his action, but my wife continued to scream. He cried louder. I tried to console him, “It’s OK. Everyone makes mistakes.” Before I could go on telling him it is important to recognized his mistake, but my wife yelled at me, “It is not OK. You can’t hurt someone and just say it is OK.” She channeled her anger toward me.

Yes, I did make a mistake and I did own up to it. I apologized and made an amend to right the wrong. Apparently my remorse was not enough. I wanted to move on, but she couldn’t let it go. I was responsible for what I had said, but the words were not all mine.