Warning Before Termination

Many years ago when travelling in Egypt, I was staying in the home of a devout Coptic Christian in Luxor. My travel companion was a woman, a completely platonic friend. When the Coptic gentleman had to go on a journey, he kindly let us stay alone in his home, but he was quite concerned, surprisingly, not for any of his possessions but that we might defile the place by an illicit sexual act.  Of course we assured him of our chaste relationship and he left trusting us.

At the time his attitude seemed quaint, but all these years later it now makes much more sense to me. In our modern hectic life, there is so little understanding of energy, and the reactions the various forces have on our lives.

I recalled that time in Luxor yesterday when I had the unfortunate duty of serving a breach notice to a tenant. Our senior Property Manager, and I met with the tenant to warn her that an outbreak of disorderly conduct in the suite by her new husband’s friends was cause for termination.

On behalf of our clients, we do not tolerate any infractions or unreasonable conduct. We believe, however, that everyone deserves a warning before termination of the tenancy so I personally went to the suite to talk with the woman. It was an embarrassing and unfortunate moment for us all. While we talked the TV blared on in the background and her cell phone rang several times.

We didn’t talk only of regulations. I reminded her that her home was really her sanctuary and her place of refuge. I felt she understood, even though I must have sounded as old fashioned to her as the generous Copt in Luxor had sounded to me, years ago.