For the elderly, climbing several flights of stairs is undoubtedly a heavy burden. Therefore, the residents of a small community in Beijing discussed installing an elevator in the community to facilitate travel.
However, Aunt Liang, a resident on the first floor of this proposal, vetoed it and even said, "You deserve to live upstairs, you can't walk and jump down."
This statement has sparked heated discussions among netizens, and some people even say that Aunt Liang is too "selfish"
Aunt Liang said that this was their retribution. So why didn't Aunt Liang agree to install the elevator?
The reason for Aunt Liang's resentment
It all started a few years ago. Sister Liang and her husband's long-standing dream finally came true, and they bought a house in an old community in Beijing's Haidian District. Aunt Liang moved into a new home and was full of longing for the new living environment.
But it didn't take long for their happy life to be disturbed by a series of bad things, and one day Sister Liang noticed that the toilet at home was often clogged.
She thought there might be a problem with the toilet installation, so she asked the master to repair it. Unexpectedly, the master told her that the problem was the clogged sewer.
Sister Liang was quite surprised, although this old house was old, they had put a lot of effort into renovating it. How can there be a problem with clogged sewers?
The master explained that this situation is actually very common, and it is mostly caused by aging pipes or foreign objects entering. It is recommended that Sister Liang find a professional pipe cleaning company to deal with it.
Sister Liang followed her master's advice and quickly found a professional company to provide door-to-door service. When the workers opened the sewer inspection well, Sister Liang was surprised to find that it was full of all kinds of debris! There were food scraps, paper scraps, plastic bags, and even some foreign objects that could not be seen as anything.
She couldn't help but be shocked, these things were obviously not thrown in by them, could they be the "legacy" left by the previous resident? The cleaner saw the puzzled look on her face, and patiently explained that such a situation is not uncommon in the old community. Some residents will throw all kinds of debris into the sewer for convenience, causing the pipes to be blocked.
After hearing this, Sister Liang wondered even more, how could anyone do such a thing, when everyone was a civilized person? After discussing with her husband, she decided to take measures to solve this problem.
First of all, they posted a notice in the community, calling on everyone to work together to maintain environmental hygiene and not litter. At the same time, they also reported the situation to the property management company, asking for more efforts to clean up the sewers.
Sister Liang thought that through these efforts, the problem could be solved. Unexpectedly, just a few days later, the same situation appeared in the toilet at home. Sister Liang and her husband couldn't help but wonder if someone was deliberately causing trouble.
They tried to communicate with their upstairs neighbors, hoping to get to the root of the problem. But to their disappointment, the neighbors seemed to ignore it and not only did nothing but continue to throw garbage down the drain.
What's more, when Sister Liang filed a complaint, the neighbor actually showed a gloating attitude, as if he was happy to see her in difficulty.
Faced with the unreasonableness and ignorance of the neighbors, Sister Liang and his wife had no choice but to renovate the sewer system at their own expense. They were resolute and spent nearly 20,000 yuan.
It completely solved this problem that had plagued them for a long time. Although this amount of money is not small for them, they feel that it is necessary for the health and quality of life of their families.
However, the high-level neighbors at that time did not pay enough attention and understanding to this matter, and even made some mockery and insults to Aunt Liang. Although Aunt Liang chose to remain silent, the resentment in her heart has not been eliminated.
The installation of the elevator made Aunt Liang see an opportunity for revenge. In her opinion, agreeing to the elevator project will undoubtedly bring significant loss of benefits to herself.
Moreover, she also thinks in her heart that the neighbors who were unkind to her before are not worthy of her active understanding and tolerance.
Antagonism intensifies the clash of interests
The two sides have fallen into a complete confrontational stalemate, their positions are completely unified, and the contradictions are constantly intensifying and escalating.
For high-rise residents, elevators are for the convenience of life. Many of them are elderly, disabled or suffering from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and they have to be careful every time they go up and down the stairs, for fear that a single misstep will cause serious injuries.
Some people have to stay at home for long periods of time, and their quality of life suffers greatly. Therefore, in their eyes, the installation of elevators is imminent.
However, Aunt Liang has considerable doubts and dissatisfaction with this. In her view, the demands of her high-ranking neighbors are almost equivalent to making a unilateral sacrifice.
Aunt Liang estimates that if she agrees to install an elevator, she will have to pay tens of thousands of yuan for occupancy of the location, and also endure deafening noise harassment and dust pollution during construction.
This caused great inconvenience and loss to her normal life, while the high-ranking neighbors were indifferent, as if they were taking it for granted that she would take care of all the consequences.
The two sides are incompatible and quarrel over the issue of their positions. The high-rise residents think that Aunt Liang is completely a self-contained and self-appreciative person, turning a blind eye to their special difficulties;
Aunt Liang scoffed, believing that the high-rise residents had no right to make such strict demands on themselves.
The property and staff of the community tried to mediate many times, and finally Aunt Liang reluctantly agreed to the plan to install an elevator, but her attitude was quite blunt and reluctant.
Obviously, Aunt Liang's heart knot was not opened at all, she just accepted this solution, and the resentment and dissatisfaction in her heart were far from being eliminated. If no one takes the initiative to heal the rift, new contradictions are likely to detonate again.
Caught in a new impasse
Just when everyone thought that the problem of elevator installation was finally going to be solved, a new contradiction once again pushed the situation to a stalemate.
In order to obtain Aunt Liang's consent, the high-rise residents offered to pay her a financial compensation to make up for the inconvenience caused by the installation of the elevator.
They understand Aunt Liang's concerns and are willing to pay a certain price, just to solve the travel problems that have plagued them for a long time as soon as possible.
However, when Aunt Liang reported the specific amount of compensation, the high-rise residents were taken aback. The price offered by Aunt Liang is far beyond everyone's imagination and expectations.
In the face of Aunt Liang's excessive demands, the high-rise residents felt aggrieved. They were just trying to solve their rigid needs in life, but how could they have thought that they would have to bear such a heavy financial burden? They really couldn't agree with Aunt Liang's demand for compensation.
Aunt Liang was resolute, and she believed that there was a good reason why she offered such a high amount of compensation.
The impact of installing an elevator on her life is undoubtedly huge, which is equivalent to sacrificing her own interests for others. As a "victim", she certainly deserves to be compensated, which is the least fair treatment.
The two sides were at loggerheads over the amount of compensation, and neither could convince anyone. Seeing this, the community staff sighed helplessly
Faced with such a grim situation, the staff had no choice but to make a desperate bet and initiate mediation again. I hope that this time they can match the interests of both sides and find a win-win way out......
Conclusion
In life, we often encounter such a dilemma: the other person has done something that we cannot understand and accept, which inspires resentment in our hearts. However, as things change, can we look at each other with empathy, understand each other, and tolerate each other?
Looking back on the contradictions between Aunt Liang and her high-level neighbors, although both sides do have some selfishness and narrow-mindedness, in the final analysis, they all stem from the difference in living environment and interests.
For elderly neighbors, their physical condition does make climbing ladders a painful burden. Moreover, although the installation of elevators will bring inconvenience to Aunt Liang, it can also improve the overall environmental quality of the community.
As for Aunt Liang, although she does have some resentment, it is largely due to the lack of basic kindness and respect on the part of her high-ranking neighbors. If we had received sufficient understanding and support at the beginning, I am afraid that today's contradictions would not be so acute.
In short, it is not an easy task to overcome barriers and maintain harmony in the neighbourhood, and everyone needs to treat each other with kindness and an open and inclusive mind. Only by resolving conflicts with a sincere and tolerant attitude can we make the community a harmonious and warm family and share the beauty of life together.