Turning the other cheek

"If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

(Matthew 5:38-42, NIV)

I've met my share of strange people but this one lady, a family friend, ranks very high on my fruitcake list.

She's a granny, Chinese, around 65 and a professed christian. She was boasting today about how a young man tried to cheat her in an investment 10 years ago, how she verbally cursed him and how she found out a few years later that he had become a bankrupt.

In animated glee, she exclaimed how wonderful it is that God helped her destroy this young man's life and two others who she claimed had also cheated her in some way. She ominously said let no one cross her or she will invoke her curse again and for sure, God will go after these people.

I don't know what makes her think that God (if he really exist) would actually run around doing the bidding of his servants but I felt sorry for her. At 65, she probably doesn't have much time left. If she still can't see the world beyond her own selfish needs, then she's in for a few surprises at the pearly gates.

Me, I don't believe in any of that God stuff. I believe our fate is a result of our own thoughts and actions and is therefore ours to change. Yeah I can be a stubborn ass sometimes but I don't believe in cursing anyone or gloat in their suffering. Except when their team bombs out in the game.

As for Grandma Fruitcake, like most grandmas she's not one to listen to someone younger. The only thing I could do was sip my tea and let things go into one ear and out the other.