Be Nice
I recently read a post by someone who had just gone through a terrible, life-changing experience.... something that shouldn't happen to anyone. That person wrote some pretty harsh things about anyone who differed from their point of view.
Unfortunately, I had almost the identical experience about a year ago. I was shocked, scared and very worried that it would happen again. I was also angry. The official, legal reaction was totally opposite to mine . It seemed to me that "the powers that be" ignored the fundemental reality of what had happened to me. At first, I was angry. I have never had very good experiences with anger. It generally exascerbates any situation... although sometimes if feels good. So, I thought about why the official reaction was totally different.
I realized that my reaction and the "official" reaction were simply different points of view... mine from what happened personally and the other from a much broader, community centered, long term view. I still disagreed completely, but I wasn't angry. We all make decisions from within the circumstances of our life.
My baseline with others, or at least what I try to make my baseline, is "treat others the way you want to be treated." That's a paraphrase of someone with a lot more insight into life than me. In the '70s, anger was a cool thing... it was considered a kind of cleansor. Group dynamics, psycho analysis and other movements wanted us to let our anger out... confront.. get it off your chest .... tell how you feel. But, to quote a line from, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "It no work!"
Anger when writing about things in a supportive community like WA, especially berating people for having different points of view, will never make things better. Be nice because you want others to be nice to you. As far as I am concerned, that's the best way to keep on fishin'.
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Hi Jim
I was a very angry person in my past and could see negativity in every thing
Funny how with a negative outlook you can see bad even in the best situations
I do not say i am perfect now and do have my days but love having a positive outlook now
Have a wonderful day
Ross
Hi Jim and thanks for posting,
Treating people the way you wish to be treated is so important.
Being nice to others costs us nothing to do that.
The thing that I always remember is that when someone is not treating me very well, I think what are they going through in their life that may be causing them to be this way.
Hurting people will always try to hurt others.
Have a great day
Darren :)
Your right Jim, but we all must remember anger is a normal emotion and it's neither good to bottle it up or to unleash it uncontrolled, it's our most difficult emotion to control but with practice it can be done and must be done if you want to fit in.
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So very true. I constantly have to remind myself that in the end I am only hurting myself by being angry or having any other negative feelings. What you send out into the universe will come back to you. Therefore I am trying very hard to calm down and breath deeply.