Chinese proverb saves the day

Chinese proverb saves the day
It’s an ancient proverb, I’m told – and I thought it should be recorded here because I’d never heard it before, I doubt I’ll ever hear it again and its effect was nothing short of astounding.
Picture this: Sunday lunch, six of us sitting around the table talking Stephen Hawking. Ah yes, well, ‘some’ of us were talking Stephen Hawking. Chris has rediscovered his love of physics so conversation has stepped up a notch from unintelligible to completely unintelligible!! Typical Sunday, really. We’d previously been discussing Rebecca’s homework (put the word ‘microcosm’ into a sentence – reality check: she’s 9!!!!) … so it was all fairly lively!
Cue Sebastian with a typical and subtle change of subject: ‘Why is Caitriona allowed on the balcony when everyone else is banned?’
Yes, you can imagine the instinctive response – in particular from Caitriona. All hell breaks loose, peaceful Sunday lunch shattered. In steps Wise Old Father Karim … ‘Sebastian, listen! You can’t expect to come out with accusatory statements like that with the blatant intent of getting somebody else into trouble – and get away with it, so just shut up and remember the old proverb:
If you throw stones, they’ll come straight back at you!
Ah yes …..
Well, it did have the desired effect – the most effective storm-diffusing proverb to come out of China – or out of Karim’s mouth, at the very least.
Sebastian is still trying to work out its wisdom – along with the rest of us!!!
Now do you see why this had to be ‘written down’? You don’t get away with much in this house, but I think this will return to the Sunday table for a few months to come …