costa rica

But idolatry is so often an annoyance to the object of the worship. Flattery, love, adoration is so easily squandered as oppressive because it is either unrecognized as a great gift, or it is something one sees as necessitating requiting and therefore a burden. In my father’s case, he was young and as I said, working terribly hard and so he was tired. He had a bad temper in those days like so many men when they are young and likely missed the cues. We all adored him, all seven of us, at least I think we all did. I know I did and if he yelled I didn’t care. He made it up to us on the other side of anger when he would grab as many of us as he could, all five feet five inches of him, wrestle us to the ground, trapping four or five of us at a time, tickling us mercilessly, each of us screaming, calling in vain to our mother for help and struggling haplessly to get away and cherishing every moment. I tell you I am smiling now as I write this, sixty years later.