Z is for Zealot

“Phil might have remained an eccentric and disagreeable neighbor but David had turned him into an enemy, and Julia might have been a breath a fresh air which blew into his life for a couple of hours once a week to teach him about how to be a better communicator. Instead, he had transformed her into an object of desire and stupidly pursued her.”

-          Loathe Your Neighbour ch.26

Zeal is a good thing, and if someone describes you as being zealous, you would accept the compliment unless it was delivered with a side order of sarcasm. Why then, I wonder, is it that the word zealot has such negative connotations? There appears to be one of those invisible lines drawn somewhere between being zealous and being overzealous, and if you cross that line you become a zealot and as such, no longer the object of admiration, but of scorn. David Lavender took the passion and protectiveness he had for his family and transformed it into a crusade against his neighbor. He became a zealot, and in so doing, he further antagonized that neighbor, aggravated the police and annoyed his wife. He took a healthy interest in women, an appreciation of them, and turned it into a hunt for something to satisfy his lust. On neither occasion did he realize he was taking things too far, that he was becoming extreme in his thinking and subsequent behavior, until it was too late to avoid the inevitable consequences of his actions. Have you ever crossed the line between passion and zealotry, or are they the same thing?

Zeal you later, everyone. It’s been a pleasure.

Y is for Yellow

“One day, he was home from work early. Lilijana had taken the children and would be gone for more than an hour, so David picked some lemons from the tree in their backyard, put them in a plastic bag, and took them next door to 1008. It seemed an innocent enough gesture at the time.”

-          Loathe Your Neigbor ch. 10

Although I have referred to and quoted from my novel, Loathe Your Neighbor, in every post, this is the only time in the challenge that I have brazenly and directly tried to sell it. As part of the promotional parade for LYN, I am offering readers a chance to enter the draw to win a brand new, still-in-the-box genuine Renovator multi-purpose power tool. Simply read the book and answer the question, “What is the significance of lemons in LYN?” The draw will be held on May 25 so if you want this awesome piece of hardware, buy the book, read it and drop me a line at devolution_dacairns@hotmail.com  As a special offer for visitors to this site, I will throw in a free digital version of my debut novel, Devolution, for everyone who buys LYN and enters the competition. Make haste my friends.

Lemons are yellow, and with that I end my penultimate, and clearly most loosely, alphabetically speaking, connected post in the challenge.

X is for Xerarch

“Now there were two catalysts…The second denied his need for satisfaction and excitement. His wife from Heaven bored him. He winced. The thought was repugnant yet true. Lilijana bored him often, and annoyed him even more. He could imagine life without her.”

-          Loathe Your Neighbor ch.2

Hopefully during the A-Z Challenge I have given you something to think about and some new words to play with. The letter X had me wracking my brains and running for my dictionary. Now I have learned a new word. Xerarch. I have a Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary which was a gift from my grandparents for achieving Dux (top student) of my primary school. It’s a bit old school, and I do often use online dictionaries, but my Websters is one of my favourite books: in my collection for over thirty years now. That’s enough padding…onto xerarch. It means originating in a dry habitat, like a cliff face or a desert. This clearly refers to plant species and ecological stages of development,  which takes me way outside my limited areas of expertise. However, if I may be permitted a little artistic license, I would like to suggest that certain human behaviours originate in dry emotional places. For example, loneliness might be described as withered emotional state in which a person is not watered by the richness of human company, and which therefore leads to eccentricity or anti socialism. Sexual promiscuity may derive from the inability, or unwillingness to be vulnerable and thus experience emotional intimacy. There may be a disconnect between the fertile fields of the spiritual aspect of sexuality and the physical actions. I’m thinking out loud here, so to speak. Would a person thus described be considered to be xerarch or would their behavior bear that label?

 

W is for Womanizer

“Whether it was the company, the food or the alcohol he drank, he enjoyed himself. Lilijana had some extraordinary female friends and David delighted in their company. Although it attracted the ire of the men at these parties, it was harmless fun in David’s eyes. The ladies did not seem to mind.”

-          Loathe Your Neighbor ch.2

I am about to fly in the face of danger by suggesting that David Lavender is not a womanizer. Despite his unabashed interest in, and frequent flirtations with women, he does not disrespect them. He is brimming with admiration, in awe of the opposite sex. He has overcome the intimidation he felt as a younger man and figured out that flirting is fun, and most women are flattered by the attention. David himself likes the attention. It’s not all about sex. He’s somewhat selfish and enjoys being the object of desire. He thinks women, likewise appreciate being complimented and entertained. David thinks he knows where the lines are drawn and he doesn’t intentionally cross them. He’s not a sleaze. He’s not trying to offend anyone. He thinks he’s harmless. What do you think?

V is for Vicarious

“His bizarre fascination with Phil and Naydine mystified David. There really was no reason for his intense curiosity, nor any justification for such an unhealthy interest in other people’s business. He enjoyed it. Why? Was it the same vicarious thrill women derived from reading New Idea or watching Desperate Housewives? Was it that his own life, had settled into the rut of domestic routine, and he needed something else? Some spark. Some passion.”

-       Loathe Your Neighbor ch. 6

What makes us so interested in other people’s business? Why do women’s magazines and celebrity gossip magazines sell in the quintillions? Books, movies, television shows, especially reality TV programs are hugely popular all over the world. Why? Other places, other worlds, other people’s lives are irresistibly attractive? Why? The majority of us are prisoners of the mundane: spending huge amounts of our time on activities we would not necessarily choose if we had a choice. Let’s face it, choice itself is a luxury precious few can afford. We sample the insipid staples of regular life while dreaming of wild adventures. We eat beans as we dream of baked dinners. We cannot escape our lives, nor run from ourselves. Many of our problems cannot be solved, and those that can, often require pain and sacrifice. The slick salesman in Total Recall asked Arnie’s character what was the one thing that was the same about every holiday he had ever taken. He didn’t know the answer. Do you? Owing to the limitations of our mortal bodies we have but one life here on Earth, and we choose to spend much of it entertaining ourselves by living through the experiences and imaginations of others. This is vicarious living. I don’t actually want to do that, or go there, or suffer that so I will read about it or watch it. I don’t have a problem with such escapism. Do you?

U is for Opposite

“Are we okay?”

“What do you mean?” she asked without taking her eyes off the dishes.

“I don’t feel like we talk to each other anymore. Not properly. We say stuff in passing and throw words and sentences like a food fight at a birthday party. There’s no real connection.”

“’No connection,’ that’s an interesting phrase.”

Lilijana was a true champion of the put down, shutdown comment. Disturbingly unsympathetic.”

-          Loathe Your Neighbor ch.10

It would have been so easy to write about the ubiquity of umbrellas but I decided to sing the praises of a powerful prefix instead. Two letters which, when applied to the front of a word, turn the whole world upside down. Two letters that take what is good and make it bad. This deadly combination can make something useable into something unuseable, something wanted into something unwanted. That which is lovely, kind, righteous, or peaceful may be transformed in a flash. In spite of its reputation as a negative prefix it can also be a force for good. A humble person may consider themselves unworthy or undeserving while others deem them unselfish. Although it is not unnatural for writers to be unknown it is unquestionably uncomfortable for them to remain so. Alas the world is unfair and unwarranted actions undo the unassimilated and uninitiated. Unbeknownst to me this post has fallen into an unhealthy and unattractive assortment of unplanned dribble. Unfortunately, once begun an odyssey is not easily abandoned, and it would be unreasonable of you, the reader, to expect it of me. It may be unrealistic and unimaginably unwise, and calling a blog post an odyssey may be unadulterated hyperbole, but I beg your indulgence for I am not unaware that you are not uncaring souls, and you understand that un at the beginning of a word is not always a prefix. I am unfinished. What's your favourite un word?

T is for Tomo (the challenges of step parenting)

“No matter how he tried, David never broke through. Tomo put up with his presence and was pleased to cooperate and be nice when it suited: if there was, in his eyes, sufficient return on his investment. To purchase something for him, he would happily go to the mall.  He refused to go grocery or clothes shopping, but, when he did, he showed the enthusiasm of a dog asleep in the shade on a hot day.

Though David was no psychologist, he knew at least this much: Tomo blamed the world and everyone in it for taking away his father. The chip on his shoulder was more like a sack of potatoes.”

 

-          Loathe Your Neighbor ch. 6

I think one of the reasons The Brady Brunch was so popular is because it presented such an idyllic view of what has become known as the blended family. The Brady family had their problems of course, but nothing that could not be sorted out in a 30 minute episode. Reality is not quite so cut and dried. My comments here are based on observation not experience. Roughly 50% of marriages fail. Many people remarry and so we have many families where two worlds have collided, or are colliding. Step parenting throws up many challenges but they seem to fit into two, not unrelated categories: discipline and acceptance. (There is a third category which covers sexual abuse but I find that too distasteful to write about.) I cannot deal in any depth with these issues, but if you have been a part of a blended family, either as a child or a parent, then you know what I’m talking about and I would be interested in hearing your views. In Loathe Your Neighbor, David feels that his stepson, Tomo, tolerated his presence and used David’s goodwill to his advantage. As soon as Tomo could leave home, he did. His attitude towards David can be summed up by “You’re not my father, you can’t tell me what to do!” Does that sound familiar? Parenting requires, hard work, love and grace. How much harder is step parenting? Is it harder? What has been, or is your experience?