Too Much Pride

As the country song says, "How much pride is too much pride?" For me, pride and integrity is about all I have left in life. That's a 50/50 shot to happiness. If I lose one of those characteristics then I'm definitely on a downslide. What I do know is that I have enough pride for me and several others. This I admit to.

I'm not going to let anyone mistreat me and I'm definitely not going to listen to them put me, my family or friends down. If I have to I'll just stay away from them. Some might see this as letting the person win, but to me, it's staying in control of the situation. If I'm not around these people then I don't have to listen to their trash talk, and therefore, won't open my mouth to put them in their place and cause further problems. After all, I do have a big mouth and have been known to open it upon occasion.

Over the past few months, I've been in one of these situations where someone I know through a friend of mine has insulted me several times. I've put up with it thinking it would get old to this person and go away. It hasn't so I've decided to stay away. If my friend chooses to spend time with this rude person that's her/his choice. It's that person's choice to be rude and it's my choice to stay away.

In my own way I'm standing up for myself. I'm letting go of a smear of my pride for my friend. I know the rude person could not withstand being annhiliated by my mouth. One day, his/her true self with come out and this will cause unnecessary hurt. There is only so much I can do to protect people who can't see the truth ... so for now I'll stay away.

My friend who is in the middle of this is a very good friend and is trying to make the best of a potentially bad situation. I'm pretty sure the rude person will read this. If you are, don't hurt my friend because then my big mouth will open, and, oh my, that smear of pride will kick in and that would be a hot mess.