Don't Get the Impression - Richard Milhouse Nixon

Anger Like Gold - Old Saying

Costly to the Soul - Bohdan Chreptak

After I got Blooded

31^st December 2013

 Dear Cassi,

Two letters in one day, well, that’s something new. In any case I guess I could have just kept writing the last one, but I’m in a funny mood, and I have to go into work. I got my face blooded this morning and I’m still going into work.

I have to finish telling you the story of the person who bloodied it to keep my head clear.

In any case, that angry client left this morning after I tried to call the police, but she came back. I saw a figure at the door and went to press the button to open it, but I didn’t need to. The door came open on its own.

So there was that angry drunk, and she wanted her belongings at maybe an hour past midnight with her roommates sleeping. I can say this much she wasn’t drunk, not anymore, she was crazy angry, but not drunk.

This girl was the kind of angry that meant she couldn’t be permitted back to her room because she could hurt someone, and it was my job to keep people safe. So I told her to leave and she wouldn’t.

I called the police and she reached over the counter and ripped the phone off its cord. I pulled out my cell phone, and she tore the time clock off the wall and hurled it at my hands knocking my phone to the floor.

I had to put my phone back together and let it turn back on as she grabbed everything she could had hurled it at me as hard as she could. The papers and the mouse pad hit me. By the time she threw the computer monitor I was on the phone with the police. Next went the computer body and the police were on their way.

She tried to rip the security monitor off the wall, and I didn’t want that hitting me so I put my hands on top of hers to stop her, and she spit in my face. She tried to jump over the counter to get at me, but I knocked her back. Twice more she tried this before knocking over the Christmas tree and storming out.

I was safe, but I was bleeding. I was bleeding, and I didn’t even know it yet. I’ve got to go to work now so the rest I’ll have to tell you tomorrow. Funny, isn’t it, I got my face blooded at work this morning and they won’t even give me the night off.

Stay safe, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Anger and Restraint - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Pickles Condition

22^nd November 2012

Dear Cassi,

       

Pickle’s condition grows more delicate with the passing days. Today he had me take apart a lamp to see if there was a “bug” in side. I thought I had been looking for an insect but he meant a device that was making sound.

       

He said the thought the neighbors were putting hallucinogens in his coffee

as he slept and that they had rigged his devices to give off sound that only he could hear. He spent much of the day talking about electric pulses and such.

       

To add to thing his short fuse is made shorter by his paranoia. Today he started yelling at Gus

after some sound had scared the big dog. Pickle’s ruckus sent the kittens running into the study where they hid among the bits of junk on the floor.

       

It will be another twelve days before this business is over in any reasonable way. I just

hope pickle’s does no damage in that time.

Stay safe, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

The Nature of Forgiveness

A good amount is said about forgiveness in this world, and I’m one of those folks who needs to have an idea of when it’s time. This is what I think, and you can tell me if I’m right.

17^th November 2011

Dear Cassi,

   

Something happened at work on my second day that struck a note with me. I was manning the front desk alone, and I had no business doing so as I was still training, when one of the managers came out training another new employee.

   

A conversation was had of which I can give little detail, but the subject of forgiveness came up. My take on is that you should only forgive those who admit that they were wrong and pledge to right things.

   

If a person stole and would not return their plunder with interest, then you cannot forgive them. In this regard we must understand first that everyone makes mistakes, and second that it is so much easier to harm than to heal. Those who freely admit that they were wrong, are sorry, and will work to make it up to us are worthy of forgiveness.

   

The interesting thing about my argument was that it brought a tear to the manager’s eye. I found it strange that a man who had worked around so much suffering could be so easily moved. My words were not profound or eloquent. I would even call them rushed and incomplete, but I think my point was made.

   

I’ve been told that you should forgive four your own sake. That bad idea was hatched from those who are consumed by their anger. We forgive the dead because they have no more option of redemption. For those of us still living we should place in the nature of our resolve the understanding that forgiveness comes at the price of honesty and hard work. It is as much a crime to forgive the unworthy as it is for them to transgress. All forgiving the unworthy will do is give them leave to be bad people once again.

Stay safe, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal

Speech You'll Regret - Lawrence J. Peter