Chaos

‘’Dad had almost thrown the jar at Mom’s face today. Luckily, I stormed in the room and intervened in their scuffle at the right moment, forcing my Dad to pause the vicious act else Mom would have been in the hospital all day,’’ she said.

Lisa and I were seated on the saddle of the distorted swings that could hardly ‘swing’ because of the dismantled state it was in. There were well-furnished benches on the main ground of our school but nothing could compete with the serenity of this parcel of land that resides at the corner of the ground where we were settled, away from the hubbub and ceaseless babbling of other kids. It’s not like we were one of those boring kids who were too lazy to play or have fun in break time. We only come to this quiet area when we don’t feel like interacting with so many people or when we just want to entertain the idea of sitting together and ranting about things. However, most of the time we end up talking about Lisa’s disturbed state of life; courtesy of her parents.

Just like any other day, Lisa was resenting over another fight brawl that took place between her parents leaving her in a sloppy mood and urging her to skip a class or two because of her exhaustion. These endless tales of fights and violence happening in her house were nothing new to my ears but every time she expresses the heart-wrenching events of her day I can’t resist letting my jaw fall. Rendering my mouth agape in surprise because no matter how familiar I am with all these quarrels and her abusive parents I fail to withstand the situation without getting being dismayed all over again. Even though it was quite clear, I always find myself struggling with the absurdity of the existing circumstances of her life. How can parents make their own daughter’s life miserable with their stupid indifference towards her? Why they don’t think about how their irrational behavior is ruining a life that is unfortunately anchored to them? Why don’t they give up on their egos for the sake of their daughter for once because isn’t that what every parent does for their kid?

My heart goes out to her strong demeanor that she manages to display constantly. What other option does she have except submissively accepting the seeds that her parents sow for her now and then, anyway?

As much as this mess disappoints and agonizes me, every time I hear her problems my intuition makes me realize how much thankful I should be about my peaceful life, free from bickering parents and abusive upbringing that Lisa has to endure every day, without a hiatus. I have started to discern the fact that peace of mind is essential to living a healthy life and decent family relationships are significant attributes of this life. People need to understand these things or God knows how many kids will keep on suffering at the hands of an infinite chain of misunderstandings and tiffs between their parents.