Paying Reason & Wisdom

A Story on Strength and Wisdom

Amy and Angela having a sister’s night out at their favorite restaurant. Giving the waiter their menu after ordering, Amy said, before taking a sip of her red Merlot, “I saw Margret last night. She is homeless with two of her kids and she is begging for help.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Angela asks, staring at her half-empty wine glass.

“Well, she is our sister,” Amy said softly, taking another sip.

“Still, why are you telling me?” Angela repeats. “When she lived in heaven, she didn’t want to hear from us. So now she is in hell, she is reaching out.”

Amy sighs deeply, then release, “She is still our sister. And I just thought we would help her out,” putting her glass on the white lace tablecloth.

“You thought wrong,” Angela said, easing to her right as the waiter put their meals on the table.

She continues as he walks away, “you may have forgotten, that when we were kids, she would squander her allowance, while we save ours. Then she would find where we hide our money and steal it,” Angela refreshes her sister’s memory, then taking up the fork and tasting the Veal Scallopini, chewing and nodding to herself.

“And that’s when we got our first bank account,” Amy reminds her, twirling the Angel Hair Pasta with a piece of Veal Piccata with her fork.

“And mom increased her allowance, but not ours,” Angela hit back, taking a sip of her wine. “So, we went out and get jobs. I helped Mrs. Andrews in her yard, and you helped her in her house. You were nine and I was ten years old. She was 13 years old Amy, much older than us.,” Angela said sternly slowly chewing.

“But we learned from her and all of the stupid things she did,” Amy said putting a piece of Veal in her mouth.

“Mom aided and abetted her in the wrong ways. When she died, we got $200,000 each from her estate and Margret got twice that amount,” Angela added. “We used our inheritance to pay down on a house.”

“She bought a Benz and a motorcycle for her husband, and a Jaguar for herself,” Amy said.

“You and I had two jobs, Amy,” Angela voiced in anger. “We made sacrifices, cut corners, deprived ourselves, and our children of many things. While she denied herself, her children, and her husband nothing. I drove a twelve-year-old car, yours was fourteen years old. While we worked two jobs, she was playing. She slept when she wanted to. Wake up when she wanted. Eat what she wanted. She enjoyed her life, while we struggled to achieve the life we want for ourselves and our children. The sacrifices I made; I didn’t make them to save her. I made them to save my children and me from living her life.”

“She is the reason why we made the right decisions. As children, we saw the consequences of all her actions. If she hadn’t been who she was, we wouldn’t be who we are,” Amy fought to save Margret.

“Oh,” Angela said, putting down her fork and easing back, “So you think we owe reason?”

“Her wrong decisions gave us the wisdom to make the right ones,” Amy bargains.

“So, we owe wisdom too?”

Amy sighs nodding.

Angela continues, “Have you forgotten? She squandered the $400,000 mom left her in one year. The next year she won $250,000 in the State Lottery. That went through a sieve faster than water downstream. Sorry, little sister, but when you know their lives, how they live it, and the opportunities they wasted, making a sacrifice for them isn’t easy.”

“But she is our sister,” Amy pleaded.

“I know, but you remembered one part of her life. She was never allowed to help herself. Mom spoon-fed and diaper wiped her right into adulthood. If we keep giving her, she will never try to help herself. It’s time she grew up like the rest of us.”

“She is still our sister,” Amy protests.

“I am not paying reason nor wisdom a penny. You want to help her, let her help herself.”

Sighing deeply with regrets Amy said, “Angela if she was like us, do you think we would be like her?”

Angela stared at her little sister for a while then said, “I knew what I wanted from I was a child, you heard Mom said that about us. We were independent babies. Now we are independent women. I like being independent.”

“Margret isn’t, she is missing out on a lot,” Amy said sadly.

Silence stepped in as they enjoy their meal, then Amy asks, “Do you think God will sin us for not helping her?”

“No baby sister, God expects us to use wisdom and commonsense.”

Life is a test, and it tests us every day, in many ways. Many decisions are difficult to make, but when it’s made with wisdom it will benefit all parties involved. Some will be happy, others will be sad, but time will tell. So, when life tests you for wisdom, please, try to pass.