Our Battle their Defeat

It was a show all along; a show that involved both sight and sound. The couple geared up, adding a new missile each day with which to put the other down. The beauty in the relationship began to evaporate till one day only sourness remained. The pretty contours on their faces changed for more distorted ones. Innocence gave way to a knowing maturity; trust was exchanged for contempt. They gave little thought to the plant of upheaval they were sowing in their son’s mind. The desire to say the last word and establish beyond doubt their own indelible authorities remained uppermost in their minds. As always it was the power game. Who wants to give up power?

He watched it all, initially confused but with things falling into pattern gradually. The child did come to terms with life. Till when would he not?  He came to realize that life was an ugly teacher holding the opinion that sparing the rod was spoiling the child. Life was clear on this principle and therefore rarely spared anyone. The adolescent felt the rod inflicted by his parents’ quarrels every day. He wasn’t able to do much to save the situation. So he developed that calm acceptance which is sometimes necessary to retain the balance of sanity. But with that in his armour he could pick up some more lethal weapons as well.

How could he choose between his parents? They were both equally needed. The absence of either put him in the position of a child dumped downward on a see-saw from which the child at the other end had suddenly shot off. First he didn’t know how to express his anguish. But life, the ugly teacher, made him expressive enough to use the right word, intonation and volume at which he would make known what passed through his being each time the monster emerged in his existence. He successfully acquired the art of shouting down both his embarrassments making each realize the damage they had done to him. The parents had become so hardened and brittle over time that they found it easier to break rather than bend back into positions of propriety. He knew that it was in his fate to witness this eventuality and so retired into a corner of life waiting to see how he would cope with the monstrosity multiplying. He had to be patient till it decided to come and finally take the life out of him.