Bull in the china shop

The bull in the china shop

September 16 2024

The china shop she was visiting, had teacups that were delicate and fragile and trimmed in gold. There were teapots and vintage dishes of a myriad of colors. Filly had never seen so many beautiful pieces of china.
They were laid and marketed, on intricate doily’s of white woven cloth, or lace tablecloths. Some were regular sized tea cups and some were demitasse. All were lovely.

Filly loved tea, especially now that she was not drinking coffee or soda. But the tea she loved most, was the southern sweet ice tea that her ma used to make on a hot summers day, with seven giant Lipton tea bags and a cup of sugar in a pot of boiling water…chilled with lots of ice and water. Tea cups and tea parties had only recently become an occasional treat because of the little girls Filly entertained. Tea parties were a way to teach them manners, polite table behavior, social interaction and restraint, patience and generosity.

The things Filly had collected thus far in her search for all things delicate and beautiful in the china department, for tea parties, were organdy sheer table runners, decorated with pale flowers, tiny silver serving spoons, hand painted china, and a variety of teacups and tea pots.

But Filly thought that because she was in America, even though Tea originated in China, she wanted a story time tea, or a tea party to be paired with reading hero type books like Gunga din, or the Trumpeter of Krakow or the steadfast tin soldier, or the story of Anne Frank. Her tea parties were American in every way, shape and form.

Stories of bravery in spite of torment might seem like “bulls in the china shop”, Filly thought, bold, daring, and heroic, but the china shop was hers, not some other country’s. It was not passive, not quiet, not fragile. And she did not want the bull in her china shop to be one that wanted to break everything… to break the constitution, to break laws, to break up families, to break up babies as they were being born. And in fact, the best way to deal with a bull in a china shop who wanted to break everything, was to have a bull already.

What better way to combat a destructive bull in a china shop, than having one’s own protective bull, Filly thought as she spotted exactly that, in a lovely pairing of a matador and a bull, sitting on a marble top table. Because a bull that would break everything would never be allowed in the china shop would it? The matador would take care of the bull with finesse.

She loved the idea of the matador and the bull sparring, each beautiful, athletic and strong. The size of the bull was great, but it would not surpass the finesse of the matador. Fully looked at the bull as symbolic of a bully. But this china bull on the table did not want to break up the tea cups or the demitasse serving pieces. This bull was also made from china. If it destroyed the china, would it not be destroying itself? The bull that protected the china shop had to understand the nature of the china itself.

Filly understood the transient nature of aggression, and the beauty of subduing it. She understood the power of truth and it’s ability to endure even in the harshest conditions. She loved analogies.

She made her purchase, and her purchase confirmed that she supported the idea, that bullies could not be negotiated with. Their aggression, by their very nature, caused their own destruction. Filly smiled and put the carefully wrapped pieces in her arm and carried them out.

Filly’s bible verse for the day…
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

If the bully wanted to bully or be aggressive, it would be bathed in its own blood. The bible says to choose life. Even the above bible verse, says, that if a person is polluted by their own blood, they could still choose life. Power through strength, was how smart, God fearing people, avoided death. And the bull Filly had in her china shop, would be a symbol of power through strength, not through bullying.