This morning after mass my wife got angry with me and stated that I do not treat her with the respect that I treat others.  That I am constantly cutting her off and am tyrannical about deciding when she and the kids can speak. She also said that I look at what she does but not at myself.  I had to discern how much of this was her resentful bias and how much this is true.  I thought about how I have taken active and evident measures to examine myself for years.  I thought about how I do know that sometimes I am impatient and disrespectful and either realize it right away or discover it through the process of self-examination.  But, some of the instances when it happens seem unavoidable.  Sometimes it is in response to her not practicing patient communication herself.  Sometimes when she communicates she is doing so rashly and rapidly making assumptions and inferences and taking action that affects me or others without careful consideration. Sometimes I just need her to slow down, and stop and think before acting.  But I lose patience or must act due to the circumstances.  I wish she could understand the difference.

I thought about our sermon today in which the priest talked about the monkey trap story.  Where the monkey sticks his hand in the hole cut in the coconut and cannot let go of the treats.  The monkey cannot let go and his hand stays trapped and allows the hunter to capture or kill him.

This is our trap.