Letting people borrow something of yours can be a little nerve-racking. Doesn’t matter if the person is a friend, family member, or a Buddhist monk, people still worry about how long they’ll use it and in what condition it will be returned. Typically, the object borrowed is a book, a DVD, or maybe an infant, however, the result of this small act of kindness on your part can go in multiple directions. Either the person takes forever to give back what they borrow, which leads to a semi-friendly, total awkward conversation where one hints to the person to return the object sometime soon. Another outcome can be that the condition that the object is returned is less than ideal (the DVD cover is torn, the book has some food residue on it, or your infant has a huge band-aid on their forehead.) However, the worst is when they just plain lose the thing they borrowed, which just makes one want to use the ole eye-for-an-eye reasoning. People that borrow others people’s things should be respectful and polite with their things. I used to have no sympathy for bad borrowers that was until I accidentally spilled Mountain Dew on a book I just borrowed two days ago. He’s going to be mad.
- Ruben