Bullying

I can't believe we are still having this problem in the 21st century, especially among those who profess to follow the God of Love.

About bullies:  I am too old to stand by silently while anyone bullies anyone else.  I specifically refer to the way some men feel it incumbent upon themselves to win every argument and be the smartest guy in the room by being condescending and rude to women or to those who have less status or education.  Anger is my besetting sin, but there is anger and there is speaking truth to self-appointed power!

 I am also sick of being told to grow up because some man can’t handle hearing the truth of how he comes across.  “It’s not about your feelings,” is an inadequate response and a distancing, detached, arrogant thing to say.  One who says such a thing is deliberately attempting to get away with less evolved behavior by appealing to the stereotype of hysterical woman.  It also changes the point of the discussion from what was being discussed to posturing. 

 If you want to talk with me, we can even disagree, but not if you start coming at me with delusions of superiority.  Not to mention the arrogance to assume that you know me and that I must have come from money…me!  My Dad drove a taxi.  My Mom worked for a doctor as a receptionist.  Not a dollar between them for college for us kids.   

 I worked my way through to a degree in my sixties because I wanted to be a priest; believed I had been called to minister to gangsters, prostitutes, drug addicts and other poor persons.  I am going to go for a Master’s in Theology and then a Ph.D. in Peace Studies.  I will pay for this out of my pittance of Social Security and do without vacations and new clothes and trips to visit my kids.  And if I don’t live that long, so what?  I don’t base my self-worth on my education.  I don’t denigrate it, but my real legacy is in the people I’ve helped over the years.

Thanks for letting me rant.  Whew!  Now I feel better.