Characters: John and Peter
Scenario:
John’s dad had just bought a family car in the middle of last year. However, his brother Peter, uses it most of the time since his dad is driving a company van and none of the other family members have a driving license.
John and his dad are Liverpool fans while Peter is a Manchester United fan. Before buying the car, an agreement was made between the siblings and their father that they were both not allowed to decorate the car with either the clubs accessories. However a few months later, Manchester United logos were seen in the car. Neither John nor his dad said anything to Peter.
Recently, John got his license. John was supervised by his dad when he was driving the family around, while short driving trips were supervised by Peter.
Scene 1: (John and Peter were in the car alone.)
John was reversing to park the car when suddenly Peter yelled
Scenario:
John’s dad had just bought a family car in the middle of last year. However, his brother Peter, uses it most of the time since his dad is driving a company van and none of the other family members have a driving license.
John and his dad are Liverpool fans while Peter is a Manchester United fan. Before buying the car, an agreement was made between the siblings and their father that they were both not allowed to decorate the car with either the clubs accessories. However a few months later, Manchester United logos were seen in the car. Neither John nor his dad said anything to Peter.
Recently, John got his license. John was supervised by his dad when he was driving the family around, while short driving trips were supervised by Peter.
Scene 1: (John and Peter were in the car alone.)
John was reversing to park the car when suddenly Peter yelled
“Hey step on the brake!"
Hearing the command, John quickly plunged onto the brake and looked shock.
“Why what’s wrong? What had happen?” asked John eagerly.
“Did you know that you actually hit a person while reversing just now?” said Peter.
“I did?” John looked blankly into Peter. He was stunned. John turned to look to the back of the car but he could only see a lady walking about 10 metres away and who seemed perfectly fine. Neither of them got out off the car to check if anyone was really being hit. Without questioning his brother, John just continued parking the car and they both headed home. Questions ran through John’s mind.
If I did hit someone, why didn’t Peter got off the car and check on the person? Why wasn’t anyone at the back of the car when I turned back? And if it was the lady whom I saw was being hit, why did she look so fine and how is she able to walk such a distance almost immediately after being hit?
Scene 2: (John and Peter had just finished having dinner outside with the whole family)
After the dinner Peter decided to meet up with some friends. So John actually volunteered to drive the family home.
“Pass me the keys. I feel like driving today” said John to Peter.
Ignoring his brother’s request, Peter passed the keys to his dad. John was puzzled with Peter’s action.
“Why can’t I drive?”
“Your driving is horrendous!” Peter told John straight to the face.
Although John felt really hurt at the moment he just took the keys from his dad and drove the family home. But John just could not understand why his brother was behaving cold towards him. After some thought, he realized that his brother’s attitude towards him had changed since he started driving the family car.
What should John do to resolve this matter?
Edited 07/02/09
I think John should stop asking himself those questions and ask Peter instead. There is a fifty percent chance that things might get worse but it is better than having all these unanswered questions and having more coming in as the days go by. If Peter really feels that John is intruding into his "car-time", then maybe a talk like that will make him realise the value of sharing.
ReplyDeleteThough I may not want to say this, but if Peter is really unreceptive, then maybe their father should step in. But this is only as a last resort because parental interference usually does worse than better.
I am assuming that John and Peter were getting along fine before John started driving the family guy? Peter might have gotten used to having the car all to himself which is why aversion arose when John started using the car. He probably felt that John is competing with him for the car. I believe what John can do is to have a heart to heart talk to Peter on a weedend night when most people are feeling relaxed. This can be done privately in Peter's room. Perhaps John can bring in some beers and chat with the brother. The initial talk can be just asking how Peter is and what has been going on in his life. The little details in life might have made him irritable and thus the hostility. John can slowly bring in the subject by asking why has Peter been treating him with hostility. Both parties must know that because they are part of a family, they must know how to share and compromise when necessary. This is of course just an ideal solution and probably would not work in reality but there is no harm trying. Suppose I am John, I would actually be more irritating by flooding the car with MY photographs and tell him he's being a total jackass. This alternative approach might send this message across to Peter that he has no absolute right to owning the car.
ReplyDeleteMaybe talking to Peter is one of the better and ideal solution that John might want to consider. But what if Peter is quite a hot tempered guy and may not even give John an opportunity to discuss about this issue.
ReplyDeleteI think john should talk to Peter about this whole situation and ask him as to why he is being so cold. I am assuming that both Peter and John got along fine up until the point where their dad bought a new car. I think Peter tried to get the car to himself because John did not have the license to drive. Once John started to drive, Peter would have felt insecure about having to share the car and his aim would have been to belittle Johns driving talent. I think john should speak to Peter and ask as to what his problem is. John should also explain to Peter that the car is not his but it belongs to the family and anyone can use it. If approaching Peter does not work out then maybe John should to his dad about it and tell him how unreasonable Peter is.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how much info you give about these siblings' football team preferences, I feel that this is almost a trick question, with the answer related to the team logos.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Ayu, this is an interesting scenario. You describe the characters quite well. I do wonder though about the relevance of the football logos. Are you suggesting there might have been a connection between the brothers' different team preferences and the deteriorating relations? If not, then that info may be irrelevant.
Your classmates' have provided good feedback. Thank you for your effort with this!
I brought up the issue of the team logo to show that Peter has not kept his promise and he was also wrong to make the family car like his own. I was also trying to point out that Peter did not actually realize his mistakes and tried to discourage John from driving the car. Maybe when Peter drives the car more often, there might be chances that the Manchester logos have to be brought down.
ReplyDeleteOh okay. That's a good point. It's all about context, right?
ReplyDeleteThank you for explaining, Ayu!
Hi everyone.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, i believe that John should have a talk with his brother Peter and resolve the problem as soon as possible. At least it will make Peter realise of his own actions. And i believe after talking the situation will be better.
Ayu