Business Feud

Two businessmen asked to see me. They owned the two largest companies in their line of work in Cape Town. I’ll call them A. and B. I met them in my vestry. A. had been using (untraceable) intimidation against B., and B. had been severely rattled by it -- in fact he lost his desire to continue, and closed his business. A. had two pages of grievances. Some counsellors would dismiss such detail, but I said let’s be patient and hear it all out. At the core lay an incident where B. had ridiculed A., and that is where things snapped. This was a surprising session, because A. confessed fully to intimidating B. -- I thought he was courageous -- and both businessmen apologised to each other. But B. told me afterwards that he was finished with A. That was unfortunate, although quite understandable. I said, “At least you have this period behind you now.”