Non-Interference Lesson--Fire Ants and a Neighbor

                                              The Law of Non-Interference

A number of years ago when I was operating Boccone's Restaurant, I went outside to play and spend some time with my grandson in the parking lot next to the building we rented.  Along a fence behind the next office building I noticed a big, fire ant hill.  I decided to smash it and proceeded to do just that, beating it down on its fiery inhabitants.  I thought I was doing something good.

A few weeks or months later, as I was driving up Blanco Rd, I noticed that some enterprising folks had set up a roadside stand where they were selling stuff.  I stopped and pulled over to look.   As I was standing there, all of a sudden I felt sharp, painful bites inside my pants.  My trousers were being invaded by fire ants!  If you've been bitten by them, you know it's not pleasant.

 My first reaction was to do what I needed to get them off me. Slap, slap! The thought came later.  There was a lesson here for me.  What was the lesson?  Not interfering in someone else's business.  In this case, even though fire ants aren't considered desirable, I had no right to interfere in what they were doing on my landlord's property.  I didn't have the landlord's permission.  I was, plain and simple, minding someone else's business without their permission, and I paid for it.  Not only had I interfered with the ants, I had violated one of life's important rules--not encroaching on others, however well-intentioned, without their express permission.   The result--repayment!

 Emerson the poet said in his essay "Compensation,"  the effect already blooms in the cause." Put another way, we plant the  seed for the reaction in the action itself. We don't talk much about this universal law anymore or, if we do, we don't really believe it's true.  It's known by many names.  In physics, it's called "action-reaction" or "cause and effect."  In western religious teaching it's called "reaping what you sow" and in other spiritual teachings it's called "karma" or "the law of returns."  We hear about "What goes around comes around" but do we really believe it.  We may think we've gotten away with something.  That is totally and utterly impossible. The universe isn't structured that way as we find out sooner or later.  The effect may not show up for years, but it's there and will come back to us.  It's not punishment, it's simply payment coming do for what we've done.  And it's the way we learn.

Joe was quite upset. His neighbor had started acting rude to him.  Over time, he'd even gotten surly and threatening, dumping trash along the property line and doing a number of other irritating things. 

"What should I do?" Joe asked himself.  Should I become vindictive and start throwing some trash back over the fence?  No, that would probably make things worse. He just couldn't understand what was going on.

Finally, as he thought quietly about it he concluded  "I've got to get to the bottom of this."  He plucked up his courage, went over to his neighbor, and knocked on the door.  His neighbor opened the door with a growl.  "What do you want?" asked his neighbor. 

"Can I talk with you a minute?"

"About what?"

 "Well, we've never been friends, but when I moved here you and I seemed to get along.  Lately, though, you seem to be upset with me.  Did I do something wrong?

"Well," said his neighbor, "I’m glad you've finally gotten the message."

"What message?"  asked Joe.?

 "Do you remember last year when my son was playing outside with a friend, you called him over and told him that he shouldn't be playing with him because he was a bad kid?

"I was only trying to help," said Joe.

 "And do you remember when I was polishing my car, you came over and told me I was using the wrong wax and the shine wouldn't last?"

"I was only trying to help," said Joe.

 "You don't realize it, Joe, but you're meddling in my personal business, telling my kid and me what to do.  You've been doing that repeatedly for a couple years and frankly, I'm tired of it.  I've spoke to you about this several times but you weren't really listening.  You need to stay out of my affairs.  Hey, I don't come over to tell you what to do.  Finally I gave up and let you know by my actions that you need to leave me alone.  If you don't, you're going to have some serious problems with me.   You put your nose in my business, I'm going to put my nose in yours big time.  I don't care how you live your life or what you do.  I don't want any of your stuff either.  I just want you to stop interfering!" 

"I apologize," said Joe.

"Well, I'll say this for you," said the neighbor, now softening up some.  It takes a man to go directly to the person he's having a problem with.  You finally did the right thing by coming to see me. Now we can talk about this and smooth things out."

What are we doing that's causing us grief.  When we're willing to take responsibility for what we do and make the necessary changes, our life can turn for the better.  It's a matter of cause and effect. 

 Well, what goes around comes around and it's time for me to go!   Arrivederci!