I had one of those curious experiences yesterday. The kind that you basically wish you didn’t have.
 
To tell the story… I was walking my lady out to her car as she was heading off to the 9 to 5. As she was driving off, I see and hear one of my neighbors intensely banging on her window, “I need help! I need help!”
 
I thought maybe that she was in need of medical attention or something, as there was an ambulance out in front of her place a week or so ago. So, I grab my lady before she drives off. As the woman in question is Korean, and my lady, for obvious reasons, has a greater command of the subtleties of the Korean language that I do. I mean, though I still understand Korean fairly well, ever since my father-in-law passed away, like twenty years deep now, I have no one I speak it with, so my speaking skills have greatly diminished. That’s just the reality of life, if it’s not your native language, and you don’t practice it, it goes away. Plus, I just do not/did not feel comfortable entering that woman’s home solo, as she is a woman living all alone and I am a man, and all that. …As I don’t really know her very well.
 
Anyway, with my lady in tow, we go inside. The lady in question sits down and goes into this whole sob story. It went on and on and on and on. You see, her husband had instantly passed away from a massive heart attack a few months back. The thing was, I never understood how they communicated. He was a career military guy. Had done like twenty plus years in the army. He had met her when he was stationed in South Korea. But, he never learned how to speak Korean and her English is very basic at best. Anyway, he was a good guy, but now he is gone. And, she is all alone.
 
As her story goes, she got a big chunk of change from her husband’s life insurance. Her sister, who apparently lives nearby, had helped her set up an account for it, so she had her PIN number and all of that. The lady believed that her sister was going to steal all her money. She went on and on and on about her sister, her sister’s husband, and their daughter and how they live really well. She went on to say that after they set up the account, they had blocked her phone calls. She spoke about how she couldn’t cook rice, so she wasn’t eating well, and stuff like that. My lady was getting all teary eyed, but as I was listening, I could just kinda tell, via the way she told her story, that things were not quite the way she was depicting them. For example, sure, she may have believed that her sister was going to steal her money, but she showed us the account statement, and she hadn’t taken any yet.
 
I think that’s kind of the thing about perceived evil, you may believe it is out there and think it is coming after you, but until it does, isn’t that all just your illusion? Haven’t we all had those moments when, all of sudden, we get kind of paranoia about that something is going to happen, or that someone is going to do that something to us. But, when it never occurs, what was the reason for all of that thinking, causing all of that mental chaos in our lives?
 
My lady was totally buying into all of it, however. She’s that kind of person. Me, I was signaling to my lady, during the conversation, “You can’t get involved. This is a family matter. And, all we need is to have her sister banging on our door, getting mad at us for something we have no business being a part of.”
 
What it really boils down to is that this lady is all alone. She was locked at the hip with her husband forever, and she doesn’t know how to take care of herself. For that, I am very sad for her. She really needs to move into one of those senior living facilities, where she will be taken care of. Here, in the L.A. area, they have several of them devoted solely to those of Korean heritage. She would make friends. She would not be all alone. But, of course, she doesn’t want to the do that. She wants to remain living where she has lived for the past twenty plus years. I remember my aunt was like that. Though she grew to be very old and frail, and could not take care of herself, she fought my mother tooth and nail not to leave the family home and go to a place where she would be well taken care of.
 
As far as this lady's story goes, I would guess that her sister probably got upset at her calling her all the time and needing stuff. I am not saying that is right, but she probably got annoyed at all of the woman’s neediness. So, she blocked her calls.
 
As for what I or my lady could do for her, there’s really nothing. I mean, my lady won’t even cook rice for me. She has this whole thing about rice due to this situation her grandmother put her through. I’m basically the family chef, and that’s fine.
 
You know, I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when I have been banging on the window, (metaphorically speaking), screaming, “I need help!” Of course, no one showed up to help. But, I get it, this woman is in a horrible situation. Her husband never prepared her for her to be alone. Like I joked with my lady, “When I keel over from a heart attack, you will be dancing in the streets.”
 
This is the thing about life, you can perceive evil, you can believe evil is coming, you can ask people to protect you from evil, but if there is no evil in the air, what can anyone do?
 
After way too long of a time, I signaled we really needed to leave, as my lady had a meeting to get to and I was in the middle of a project. I believe the woman just wanted someone to listen to her, so she would not be alone. All I could do is look up a few numbers for her. The bank to change her PIN and the Police if she really wanted to take some action against her sister. …Though, as we all understand, that would not be a legal matter, it would be a civil one. But, I hoped the police could, at least, point her in the right direction for some support and/or help.
 
I truly feel for this lady, but what she wants is a caretaker. She wants someone to take care of her and do her bidding like her husband did. Me, I can’t even take care of myself. How am I supposed to take care of anyone else?
 
One of those curious life experiences… The kind that you basically wish you didn’t have.