Love Thy Neighbor

It was a Saturday evening. Hubby went out to go karting, as what he usually does on Saturdays. We didn't go with him though and decided to just stay at home because Sam just recovered from her ear infection.

I looked out our window and noticed that our balcony is wet... and water is trickling down from above. I thought it was raining hard again and so I went out. The odd thing was that only our side of the balcony is wet and the adjacent ones are dry. Hmmm... I thought, "So the neighbors on the floor above decided to clean their balcony, wash off the dirt with water and just allowed the water to trickle... Tsk! Tsk!" Good thing I had no laundry to dry that day, otherwise, they would get soiled and wet.

Then my door bell rang. I looked out the peephole to see who it was. It couldn't be hubby. It is too soon for him to be home. And I wasn't expecting any visitors. Then I saw a woman who looked quite furious and impatient. I nervously opened the door and asked what it was she needed or was looking for. Furiously, she ranted in German about something gone "kaput" and "wasser im balkon!" and "Jetzt!". She must have said a lot of things but I only understood those few words. And I told that I didn't water my plants just now and raised my hand up to indicate that the people from the 5th floor did it. I kept shaking my head saying "Nein, nein..." and when she gave up, figuring out that I couldn't understand her, she gave. Then I said "Enschuldigung..." which meant "I'm sorry..."

I was terrified when I closed the door. The Germans are really a brave lot, at least the person who came to my door was. I know I had every right to be indignant of her accusations but I cannot defend myself using their language. But then again, she was furious too because something was ruined because of the water. I prayed for an understanding heart as I remembered what Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor."

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