#193 A Bear's Favor

One of the perks of being a Reedsy Prompts judge is the constant exposure to new ideas and words. While reading Olivia Lake’s story ‘Grateful Nuisance’ recently, I was introduced to a new (to me) Japanese word that instantly captured my imagination. The story explores the idea of arigata-meiwaku, a combination of arigatai (thankful), and meiwaku (nuisance). In essence, it describes the all-too-relatable phenomenon when someone insists on doing you a “favor” against your will, only to wind up causing you even more inconvenience than you started with.

In Northern Europe, this concept is often referred to as a “bear’s favor,” derived from a fable about a bear who kills his master by hitting him in the head with a boulder, when he was in fact trying to kill a fly. 

I’m sure the mere mention of such a favor has already conjured some examples from your own life, and this week’s prompts draw on the idea of “bear’s favors” and half-baked acts of kindness. Is it truly always the thought that counts?