Very wise words as always, (((( Warmie ))))!
Although, I find them very hard to put into practice sometimes, which leaves me feeling like " the bad guy ", even when I'm sure that I'm not.
I genuinely feel that I'm a person who tries to live by the open hand rather than the closed fist. I like to meet people half-way, live and let live, other people have the same rights as you do, looking for a win/win solution for everyone, blah blah, woof woof...
But, the flaw in that idea is that people have to be willing to meet you half-way. I may be willing to split the proverbial disputed-ownership cake 50/50 with someone else, but that's hard to do if they've already decided that they're taking all of it for themselves, with no better claim to ownership of the whole cake than I have.
For, ( Rather surreal!
) example, I just had a rather weird experience in a cafe where I went for lunch. I'd had lunch and slipped into the back to use the " rest-room ", ( As our American cousins would call it...
). And that is when things started getting surreal...
Suddenly, there was quite a loud knocking on the cubicle door.
" Yes? ", I replied. ( On the off-chance that the cafe had caught fire, or aliens had landed, or something. Although, like most people when I'm " taking a break ", I DO NOT expect people to knock the door when it's obviously occupied!
. )
A while later there's another burst of knocking on the door. And, a short time later I emerge from the cubicle to meet a man who announces that I was taking too long, was being selfish and tells me that I should read the Bible...( Obviously, I would readily concede that reading the Bible IS a good thing. And I have in fact read all of the New Testament and a part of the Old Testament, until the first few chapters of Leviticus, when I have to admit that I got rather bogged-down on the descriptions of the biblical measurements in use and ground to a halt. For which hopefully God, ( If there is a God. ),will forgive me, along with a few other things...
But, I have to confess that I am not truthfully aware of anything in the Bible that would allow a total strange to criticise my use of the the customer toilet in a cafe! )
Feeling a little taking aback by this, ( Rather strange behaviour I'd have to say.), I resorted to telling him to...Er..." Go away and leave me alone ", ( I've cleaned that up a bit...
), at a steadily-rising volume and with a certain...Er..." imagery ".
A relatively trivial example perhaps, but, how do you meet someone half-way, how do you treat them courteously, when they're " in your face " like that? I feel there should be a way. But, sometimes when you're " pushed ", can you ALWAYS avoid " pushing " back?
And, indeed should you?
Admittedly, yelling at people isn't an approach to social interaction that I'm comfortable with!
The man in question was walking with a stick and I can understand that he would have prefered to find the cubicle unoccupied. But, I was not " in his way ", I had as much right to use " the facilities " as he did. So, I simply wasn't about to accept being criticised or called selfish for doing so. But, I still feel that I should have found a better way to respond other than telling him " to take a long walk off a short pier..." ( As, we say in this part of the world. )
