MUM PLEASE!
I was indifferent about how she controlled everything around her, It was as though everyone must bow to her will. I needed to understand how she did it, it seemed like voodoo as I watched her tell everyone what to do, when, and how to do things. I felt it had lingered too much, and it would be suitable for someone to stand up to her. It went on for days, which turned into weeks and then months.
Her influence was becoming more annoying to me when I saw her scold her mum right before my eyes. I needed her to understand respect could be given and taken. When she spoke to my dad she spoke with all vigor and authority, as though she had something on him. He would say "OK" to her request and complain without objecting or at least give an alternate opinion.
When I got home the other day, I found out my dad did when she was expressing a different viewpoint for what she believed to be incorrect. I should be happy right, But this was coming after I had a heated argument with her over not coming home at her wish. Not because I had anything important to do at school, but because it was coming from her, and I didn't want to feel controlled again.
The news of what my dad had done was supposed to calm me down seeing how I had seen her as a control freak for the last six months. Just like me, my dad was feeling abused doing whatever his wife said. This time he wanted to collect a loan for his business and use the house as collateral which Mum did not agree to suggesting a more preferred approach of Selling one of the gas stations and using the money from sales to manage the remaining two.
Dad hell-bent on doing his wish had been on her case at every chance he got. The harsh words I told her in trying to make her understand I was old enough to take care of myself and make my own decisions shunned her off completely, and I came back meeting her a shadow of herself. My sister and the little kids were her only companions who could do so little. They were just children who only saw the pains their mother was going through.
Image by Freepik
I stood there while she looked at me with her sad face and smiled welcome, thank God you finally decided to return. Right there I felt her words hit me in the heart like a dagger, I felt anger, regret, and shame at the same time. I wanted to hug her at least, but I knew deep down that even though she did not sustain any physical injury, the injuries my words made were deeper than those on her face.
Saying sorry wasn’t enough, I was angry with my dad for his actions, and at the same time regretted listening to my friends because I wasn’t just coming from school, but from trouble as well. There was no way I could speak about how I broke an expensive laptop screen while playing with my mischievous friends. I had to scratch everything on me to get it working before I came home and my dad found out. I was ashamed of myself the most because I only saw her as a control freak and not as a mother calling for her son to save her.
At that point, I understood that she had more influence on me than I thought, I knew apologizing would not change or fix anything, but I apologized anyway. I was trying to find the best way and at the same time, the best voice to say I am sorry, but I couldn’t find the words for any as the words slipped out of my voice trembling so bad I could barely hear myself. I knew she heard but refused to say anything, so I said the words again, this time louder but trembling still.
Sorry for what exactly? You also think I am a control freak right? Because I wanted you to choose the gift I was getting you for your birthday you called me a nosy mother. What did I do to you and your father to deserve such treatment? Now your father has taken the loan he finally realized those who gave him the loan only wanted the house, Where is the money he was given, It is nowhere to be found and very soon the new owners will come and evict us
At this point, I wished I could turn back the hands of time and at least amend my part just so I could ease the pain in her heart, but I couldn’t. I had become the very thing I vowed not to be, I had taken her protective love for an outrageous influence, I had taken her cautions of love for being too nosy, and saw what happens when we decide to disregard her influence.
THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO THE INK WELL CREATIVE NON FICTION PROMPT INFLUENCE
We often take their opinions lightly, we think ours is superior because she stays indoors mostly but in the end, she turns out to be the right one. It is better to be late than never realizing the injustice we doing.
You are very correct... Thanks for stopping by
If only they had known, they'd have listened to her instead of ignoring her. The fact that she was practical and logical didn't sit well with those who were supposed to take her back.
It was me actually
Oh. Wow.
Thеy fail to undеrstand thеir mothеrs gеnuinе intеntions in protеcting hеr family. Now, Thе fathеr's actions, drivеn by his own dеsirеs has lеad to rеgrеttablе consеquеncеs. Thеy havе now discovеrs that thеy had misjudgеd thеir mothеr and failеd to apprеciatе hеr truе intеntions. This showcasеs thе lеsson that wе should strivе to undеrstand and valuе our family mеmbеrs, rеcognizing thе gеnuinе lovе and guidancе thеy offеr, еvеn if it somеtimеs appеars as control or intеrfеrеncе.
Yes, and I learned it the hard way
hello @klvnrex. You are reminded of The Ink Well's stance on violence, especially towards women, and we respectfully request that you steer clear of stories that purport to glorify or endorse it. We refer you to these parts of your submission:
"I had returned home on a faithful day to learn my dad had hit her in the process of sharing an alternate opinion to what she thought was not right. I should be happy right..."
and
"The news that my dad had hit my mum was supposed to calm me down seeing how I had seen her as a control freak for the last six months."
Domestic violence is an awful thing to experience within a family unit and we are sorry that your mom was a victim and that you had to witness the consequences of that, and come to terms with your own behaviour and thoughts from that time.
The violence aspect aside, it would elevate your writing if you used an editor to reduce grammatical errors and to improve your sentence construction.
Am I still allowed to edit it now?
On Hive you are allowed to edit your posts at any time.
I have updated this post, and I hope it is more suitable for this community. Thank you for the enlightenment.
Nice story that reflects that sometimes we must know the complete picture of what happens around us. We don't always see it in a complete context.
The story seems to be conveyed in a positive way, telling a personal story. There would be no need for censorship just because it tells the truth. That doesn't mean it promotes such violence, but well, who am I to judge. Sometimes stories should be told without censorship.
Yeah right, I wasn't really aiming to promote violence with my post, and I didn't even tell the complete story either
hi @ricardo993 and @kilvnrex. I hope you are both well :-) This is an interesting discussion. I thought I would drop in with a view on censorship with respect to the Hive blockchain, and to provide some clarification.
The meaning of censorship is defined as:
The Ink Well, like all Hive communities, does not and can not censor posts. All posts remain fully accessible to the public on the Hive blockchain, even if they are muted within a specific community. It's one of the core principles of blockchain ;-) All communities, however, have the right to determine which themes and posts they will endorse and support, and which they will not. The Ink Well's stance on violence, especially that against women, is well known to those who write regularly in the community.
Authors are under no obligation to censor their posts on Hive. However, if they wish to submit a post to a Hive community, then they need to ensure that they comply fully with the rules and guidelines published by said community.
@samsmith1971 greetings, it's true that my use of the word 'censorship' was drastic. You're right, the post was never actually censored. What caught my attention, though, was that the story is non-fiction, so it has to recount the events and can't avoid touching on that part. I understand the community guidelines, but this was a real story meant to share an incident, not to promote violence.
In a fictional story, it's understood that you don't include such events, but in a real story, it's possible to avoid recounting that particular event.
I apologize for not using the word 'censor' correctly. And as always, I'm grateful for the comments left on each of our stories.
Hi @ricardo993. I'd like to share some additional information and perspective on this topic.
The issue isn't about promoting abuse (although some readers will read this story and see that as a facet of the story). @kilvnrex was evidently attempting to "tell it like it is," which is a fine thing to do with a personal blog.
However, in The Ink Well, we decided long ago to draw a line in the sand and ask writers not to bring these topics to this community. We were seeing many stories on abuse, rape, and brutal killing on a regular basis. To turn off that faucet and make the stories here safe for everyone, we declared in our rules and all of our prompts that stories must not focus on abuse or violence. We added the following wording in our community rules:
We also add this phrasing to every single creative nonfiction prompt:
And you will find this reminder directly under the contest rules in every fiction prompt post:
We also wrote an entire article explaining our stance on violence.
And even so, we have people arguing with us that they should be able to publish stories in The Ink Well about men hitting women.
Some of us have personally been abused, or had close friends and relatives who have suffered horrible abuse. We established our rules not to deny anyone their freedom of expression, but because we want to read about other things, and we want to protect vulnerable readers.
There are many places to publish these stories besides in the one community that does not welcome this type of content. We are open to just about any story topic that does not involve people or animals being beaten, raped, brutalized, shot, stabbed, slaughtered, etc.
Hopefully that helps your understanding.
Oh yes, I will do an edit on the story before the end of the day and try reduce the use of strong languages.
I would have done it two days ago but I had issues with my phone.
I appreciate your comment and understand better the rules of this community
It wouldn't have been less of a trouble, but sometimes elders are God sent to deliver us from troubles.
Engaged @kilvnrex
It's sad to know that all she tried to do was keep the house in good order.
Greetings, I am very interested in the post you are writing.
You know, a lot of times we judge people and we don't see beyond our interest or reasoning.
But always, in the case of our parents, we must take the time to listen and talk, to understand the reason for their actions.
It is the best way to communicate and act, because that will give a communication and a full life.
It will also allow us to live better with them, before they leave for the other world, that's why it's important to be able to communicate and act in good faith with them.
My greetings
Oh yes this is one of the few things I have learned growing up. Although I learned from my mistakes...
Thanks for stopping by
Mothers are everything. Sometimes we might see them as being nosy, too controlling and the rest but they know what's best for us because they birthed us.
#dreemerforlife
Oh yes you are very correct. And I learned that the hard way
Sometimes, we get to learn life lessons the hard way. She may have tried in subtle ways to show that her intentions were pure and just but you weren't so open to it. It's a good thing that you realize the repercussion of your section in the end.
#dreemerforlife
Yeah right, something called learning from experience