Page 19 - August 2024

He decided my statement was insensitive

and became furious with me! He emailed
me back, “Do you read the news? I

just lost a lot of money in my savings
because of the 2008 stock market crash,
and now it’s getting worse.” I emailed

him back a response. This went back
and forth two more times. He accused

me of being sarcastic in my second
email because I wrote, “I don’t know
all the stuff you know about the stock

market,” which was actually true. I really
wasn’t being sarcastic. In his third email

(which was eight pages), I was blasted
about the state of affairs of the entire
U.S. financial markets. The stock market

was something, I paid no attention to,
so honestly I didn’t know what he was

talking about.

As I was pondering how to respond

to him and feeling annoyed by his
misinterpretations, a red cardinal came to

the sliding glass door and started pecking
at its image in the glass. As soon as this
bright RED bird came to the glass, I

got it that my friend and I were shadow
boxing. I knew what a red cardinal stood

for symbolically. I live my life by paying
attention to the symbols and archetypal
correspondences that are all around us.

Red is symbolic of anger number one,
and it was pecking at itself in the mirror

of the glass, number two. This experience
immediately softened me. I remembered
our very long friendship. What at first

was a feeling of annoyance and irritation
changed into loving thoughts about what a
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