A well placed word.
- Image by bobtravis via Flickr
I feel your pain
I had a difficult conversation with a client the other day. Difficult because of an extremely unfair negotiation she is enduring. It is hard for me to listen to my client turning themselves inside out to behave in a fair, sweet and good-natured manner only to be knocked down repeatedly. Strange as it my seem my client stayed 100% outwardly focused, even while in tears. She made sure at every turn not to step on toes and in the meantime her own were chopped off. Yet, it was as though she couldn’t feel it.
Taking a good thing too far
We have been taught to nobly turn the other cheek when we are wronged. But if we turn the other cheek so far our heads come off in the process I think we may have missed the point.
When taking the high road brings you low
We think we are taking the high road and sometimes this is true, but often we are just creating anger and resentment that will come out in some weird, unexpected moment down the road.
Too err is human 
What is the option? I believe in a well-placed word can do the trick in situations like these. Someone I know also says, “I’m going to make you cry for me the way you made me cry for you.” That doesn’t sound very enlightened but you know, it sure does sound human. I am not about to win any angel wings any time soon. Nor am I working toward a spot in or around nirvana (however that works). The more human I can be the better.
What is that over there? Oh, a spade.
It isn’t about an eye for an eye. It is about calling a spade a spade. It is about saying, uh, that’s my foot you are standing on. I would like to keep my toes. Just a personal preference. Does it help anyone to let them treat you or anyone else poorly? I don’t think so. I don’t think flipping them off or hitting them is great either. I do think there are smart ways, and yes, even kind ways, of getting your point across.
The sideways F-you
A look can sometimes be all it takes. Mom’s have that look down. I don’t know why we don’t do this more as adults. We aren’t that fragile. How about, “Don’t talk to me like that.” Simple. To the point. Sometimes I like to use the sideways F-you. Finding a way to say go to hell without them realizing I’m doing it.
Humor can work wonders. Wit disarms – even when someone is being an ass. You can be – well – a smartass. I think that is how the definition came into existence.
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