There was once a house shared by four
old friends, Shona, Elizabeth, Wyn and Niamh. They had lived together for a
long time. They all spoke the same language, with slightly different accents,
and had broadly similar attitudes and cultures. Over time some friction developed
in this house, primarily over bills, how to share out money and how to run the
house. Shona decided to leave. But did Shona now want to live on her own? On the
contrary, she now wanted to live in a large dormitory, containing not only her
former housemates, but also people with very different languages and cultures.
The residents of the dormitory wondered whether they really wanted such a
fractious new dormitory member. If Shona could not bear to live in the same house
as her English speaking former housemates, would she not be a source of trouble
and disharmony in the dormitory? If English speakers could not bear to live
together what example would that set to the Spanish speakers or the German
speakers? The members of the dormitory got together to decide if they should
let Shona come and live there. They elected a Luxembourger whose
name sounded like rubbish but whose advice was anything but. He looked in an
old book and found a proverb saying sorry Shona “She who troubleth her own
house shall inherit the wind.”