Unplanned

I own a house in the northwest part of the country.  I rent it out for income.  About three months ago I chose to evict a tenant; I would like to explain the story.

He moved in about five months before this.  It was the perfect place for him.  When he moved in, he was pretty unsure about life and his place in it.  Because of this – and because he seemed like a pretty good guy, we agreed that he could stay until he felt ready to face the challenges of the world.

Believing that he had a place to stay, he put everything he had into making the place “home.”  I saw that this was good for his health – emotional and mental health, as this was his struggle.

Well, like I said, about five months in I decided to kick him out.  No reason in particular – I just changed my mind.  It was early January – the middle of a bad winter.  I knew that for him this was unplanned – but that was his problem, not mine.

He said “I have no place to go; I put everything I had into this place.  You told me I could stay until I was ready to leave.  If you kick me out now in the middle of winter, you will murder me.  I will be unprotected in an environment for which I am not designed to survive.  This really is unplanned.”

I replied: “I am evicting you.  I am not murdering you; I am killing you, but it is a justified killing.”

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NB: The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.