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The one… by H.-J. John

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She was having relationship problems, the one said this morning on the phone.
I asked her where she got my number.
She said it was really bad. Her boyfriend was ignoring her.
I told her that she was lucky. Some partners are pursued with jealousy, locked in basements or in bathrooms, kissed with burning cigarettes, or abandoned.
I stopped. Silence at the other end.
I apologized. Told her she knew her boyfriend much better. Asked her what he liked, what he didn’t like. I told her to write down her problems.
I recommended she look at them from all angles, as with something she likes a lot that is very important to her.
“Like… ” I hesitated. “Like a painted vase or a statue. First you list everything that is great about your boyfriend. Then everything you dislike. If the negative has been outweighing the positive for a long time, it is worth considering breaking up.
But that would be like building a house and stopping after the foundation. Nonsense, the house of trust is also built with stones from valleys, not just bricks from the hills.
“If you give more weight to the positive, you try to solve the problem.” “It’s that simple?” “Much simpler,” I said and hung up knowing that she would call again – to thank me. Her boyfriend was important enough to her to look for a solution. She did not have to make the detour through me.
© 2011 Hans-Jürgen John

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