Give what you get?

[Astonished]

To never initiate kindness but just react to what others do is to give others power to decide what kind of relationships we have, and really what kind of experiences we have each day.

I’ve learned that perception is reality in many instances. A long time ago, there was this guy at school whom I worked with. One day he looked at me and sniffed. Then he turned away like I was beneath his nose. I spent the rest of the day wondering what was that all about. But it occurred to me that I had no reason to take his behavior personally so when I say him again I asked him what was what. Turned out, he had a bad cold. He wasn’t sniffing at me. He was trying to breathe.

If I’d been the sort to just react to what I perceived as mistreatment, I’d have lost a friend.  

DISCLAIMER: did I ever tell you the story of what happened to the person who tried to treat me like a doormat? No? then I'd better not tell you. Police are still asking questions so I just wanna lay low.

LOL, that's funny! So crazy that we're forced by propriety to keep quiet about these little slights that we may never realize it was either not one of those, or maybe not directed at us but someone else instead that we didn't see. I'm pretty confrontational when someone pisses me off, though, so I'll usually know for certain if it was meant as an insult or if I was the target. But I find most of the time, people just plain don't think before they talk or act, so if they behave or speak rudely or carelessly, I end up having to explain it to them and they get all apologetic the majority of the time and acknowledge their mistakes. It's really remarkable how much fat-shaming goes on and nobody having the slightest idea that it might offend someone.