The Answer is in the Question
The first apartment I rented in Chicago was from an older Polish couple. I found their accent charming and their gruff familiar for they reminded me of my childhood. The manner for which they would shift from English to Polish so as to speak among themselves without my knowing, was of no bother. I was accustomed to this while growing up around my best friend's family.
Wally and Wanda kept a perfectly maintained building. The place was spotless and fragranced with the clean of Murphy's Oil Soap. The couple lived in the apartment below so I tiptoed around with great consideration.
With much regret I signed a lease that indicated I was to keep the entrance staircase clean at all times. All I could imagine was scrubbing steps after working forty hours with an aching back and eyelids that were ready to close. With limited traffic on the steps, "at all times" amounted to once per month. Not a big deal.
Despite an odor of mothballs that permeated the floor, it seemed as if I had found a place to call home. The hardwood and ornate trim glistened to perfection. The thing is, there is often a hidden cost especially when all seems too good to be true.
I began to notice unusual charges on my phone line. The same number in Wisconsin showed up each month without fail. The time listed was always during the week while I was at my job. At first I thought I was imagining things were being moved around in the apartment. After weighing everything carefully, I suspected that Wally and Wanda were invading my space.
I wedged matches in between the door and the molding as a trap. Sure enough, upon return the truth often was scattered onto the floor. The landlords were coming in while I was at work. Needless to say, the lease could not run out fast enough. After my third month, I began searching for a new place to live while marking off the calendar in anticipation.
In the mean time, Chicago was plagued by a great stretch of 100 degree temperatures. People with health issues were dying from heat exposure. Wanda insisted only one window was to be kept open. She wanted to prevent dust from entering the building. One window, no air conditioning, no cross ventilation with heat rising to the top floor....with clean being more important than surviving such extremes. I thought Wanda was being ridiculous.
Words were exchanged, angry words, cussing words, fighting words. Neither parties were happy with the living arrangements...but we were stuck until the lease expired. In the meantime, a window air conditioner solved all woes. For $399.00 and a few holes drilled into the window sill, relief. The apartment cooled down as well as all anger. That unit ran and ran and ran and I slept and slept well.
I made it through that first year while living in the flat above Wally and Wanda. The next apartment was not quite as fancy but the kindness of our landlord was preferable to the former dictator who was set on a clean perfection.
Years later, I met up with the next door neighbor of Wally and Wanda. She told of how their two flat sold easily after the W's had passed away.
"It's a shame too. I swear that Wanda kept a ruler and scissors for every blade of grass in their yard never grew out of sequence to the rest. I've never seen a more perfect home," she declared.
"You should have tried living with them," I admitted. "It wasn't easy. They were both extremely unreasonable with spot checks and taking liberties with my phone line."
The woman nodded. "Did you know that Wally and Wanda were introduced while living in a concentration camp in Poland during WWII? Did you know her obsession with clean all began while surviving the most filthy of circumstances?"
Suddenly, the entire year I spent living in that flat made perfect sense. Wanda's obsession with clean, her want to control every aspect of my stay in her building, her spot inspections while I was away, the fight over the window...was all a reaction to an unimaginable past.
When someone steals away your ability to decide, you spend your life with the want to decide on everything. Imposing power and control would be a certain after effect. I finally understood the shoes that my former landlords had walked in.
I learned a lot from that experience. The biggest lesson was to ask a simple question when faced with difficult people. "Why?"
If only we could all become better at this, maybe we could learn to get along and live in harmony.
The only real power we have is by changing our attitude towards others. I believe there is great hope in tomorrow especially if we raise our children to extend kindness towards all. Peace begins with asking a simple question of why? I believe the answer might solve most problems in our world today.
Wally and Wanda kept a perfectly maintained building. The place was spotless and fragranced with the clean of Murphy's Oil Soap. The couple lived in the apartment below so I tiptoed around with great consideration.
With much regret I signed a lease that indicated I was to keep the entrance staircase clean at all times. All I could imagine was scrubbing steps after working forty hours with an aching back and eyelids that were ready to close. With limited traffic on the steps, "at all times" amounted to once per month. Not a big deal.
Despite an odor of mothballs that permeated the floor, it seemed as if I had found a place to call home. The hardwood and ornate trim glistened to perfection. The thing is, there is often a hidden cost especially when all seems too good to be true.
I began to notice unusual charges on my phone line. The same number in Wisconsin showed up each month without fail. The time listed was always during the week while I was at my job. At first I thought I was imagining things were being moved around in the apartment. After weighing everything carefully, I suspected that Wally and Wanda were invading my space.
I wedged matches in between the door and the molding as a trap. Sure enough, upon return the truth often was scattered onto the floor. The landlords were coming in while I was at work. Needless to say, the lease could not run out fast enough. After my third month, I began searching for a new place to live while marking off the calendar in anticipation.
In the mean time, Chicago was plagued by a great stretch of 100 degree temperatures. People with health issues were dying from heat exposure. Wanda insisted only one window was to be kept open. She wanted to prevent dust from entering the building. One window, no air conditioning, no cross ventilation with heat rising to the top floor....with clean being more important than surviving such extremes. I thought Wanda was being ridiculous.
Words were exchanged, angry words, cussing words, fighting words. Neither parties were happy with the living arrangements...but we were stuck until the lease expired. In the meantime, a window air conditioner solved all woes. For $399.00 and a few holes drilled into the window sill, relief. The apartment cooled down as well as all anger. That unit ran and ran and ran and I slept and slept well.
I made it through that first year while living in the flat above Wally and Wanda. The next apartment was not quite as fancy but the kindness of our landlord was preferable to the former dictator who was set on a clean perfection.
Years later, I met up with the next door neighbor of Wally and Wanda. She told of how their two flat sold easily after the W's had passed away.
"It's a shame too. I swear that Wanda kept a ruler and scissors for every blade of grass in their yard never grew out of sequence to the rest. I've never seen a more perfect home," she declared.
"You should have tried living with them," I admitted. "It wasn't easy. They were both extremely unreasonable with spot checks and taking liberties with my phone line."
The woman nodded. "Did you know that Wally and Wanda were introduced while living in a concentration camp in Poland during WWII? Did you know her obsession with clean all began while surviving the most filthy of circumstances?"
Suddenly, the entire year I spent living in that flat made perfect sense. Wanda's obsession with clean, her want to control every aspect of my stay in her building, her spot inspections while I was away, the fight over the window...was all a reaction to an unimaginable past.
When someone steals away your ability to decide, you spend your life with the want to decide on everything. Imposing power and control would be a certain after effect. I finally understood the shoes that my former landlords had walked in.
I learned a lot from that experience. The biggest lesson was to ask a simple question when faced with difficult people. "Why?"
If only we could all become better at this, maybe we could learn to get along and live in harmony.
The only real power we have is by changing our attitude towards others. I believe there is great hope in tomorrow especially if we raise our children to extend kindness towards all. Peace begins with asking a simple question of why? I believe the answer might solve most problems in our world today.
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