Earphones

My mother stomps into my room, and hurls a pair of earphones at me. "These earphones are ruined," she says. It takes me a moment or two to make sense of what was happening- oh right, they must've been in the pocket of my pants, and seeing as how she just did the laundry, she probably washed my earphones as well.

Shrugging, I tell her it's okay, and I don't mind.

What I did not expect, however, was her rage at me. "YOU POINTED TO THOSE PANTS, SO I JUST WASHED THEM. WHY DIDN'T YOU CHECK? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? DO YOU HAVE NO COMMON SENSE?" I remain silent, stunned at this sudden outburst. It's like she's defending herself against an imaginary accusation. I did say that it was okay, didn't I? And these are my earphones. If anything, I should be the one who's upset, not her. Then she says a few more words which I heard but didn't pay attention to- and I laugh weakly in response. She imitates my weak laugh sarcastically, as if to say, "now look what you've done." Then she leaves my room in anger. I cannot fully express how overwhelmed I am by this event.

But then I'm like, "meh"

Well, I suppose one life lesson I've learnt from her today is how to be a complete bitch. If you've done something wrong- for example, damaged someone's property--- no, don't bother talking about it calmly. Don't bother apologising or expressing remorse. No, instead you had better blame the owner for allowing you to damage their possession- it's their fault, obviously. If you rage at them before they rage at you, then they'll be shocked into not raging at all. I'm sure apologies only fuel anger, anyway.

God, as stupid as this sounds... I think she might have a point there. Why does this stupid world work this way? See, at least now she feels no guilt about the earphones incident, and I am most certainly not going to provoke her now.

Except I don't want to be that way.

...Oh, did I mention... My earphones survived the laundry process quite well. In fact... they're completely fine, and there is no evidence that they have been through the washing machine, save the fact that they smell of washing powder.