Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul

There’s an old Albanian proverb, “Life happens at the level of events, not of words.” Today in this village the event is the unveiling of this family’s new stove. But there’s another Albanian saying, “The buyer needs 100 eyes, the seller not one.” Take a long look at the stove.
     Albanian proverbs provide a lively, general history of the common life for the people of this tiny Balkan country. In the mountains or on the coast most of these traditional sayings, offer advice or morals but all express a general truth.
     I shared the joy of this new stove with everyone present, their neighbors and relatives, while chicken soup simmered, . Examinations abounded and the questions overtook the conventional wisdom of the purchase. Those most curious present asked the most obvious:   “Did they deliver the stove at night?”
   “Was it discovered while digging?”
   “Can you get your money back?”
      I chuckled at the proverb, life really does really happen at the level of events - chicken soup, neighbors, and a new stove.