The Old Woman always urged me to be pleasant, to keep my less charitable thoughts to myself, and smile sweetly and dig my fingernails into my thigh if I had too. She didn't like conflict. She was very much of the "be the bigger person" school.
Several years ago, one of the Old Woman's in-laws had a stroke. She claimed that it destroyed the part of her brain that contained her "southern charm" and used the stroke as her excuse to say and do anything she pleased.
Despite my reputation, my "southern charm" has been the Old Woman's voice in my head telling me to be pleasant. Truthfully, I censor about 80% of what comes into my brain. YOU. ARE. WELCOME.
Since the Old Woman's death, I find my ability to put up with the bullshit of others a whole lot diminished.
Last week, an acquaintance I've known for over 20 years was in the mood to pick a fight. When his argument devolved into feigned offense at the mildest of statements and some nonsense about driving cars not being mentioned in the constitution, I decided he was just in the mood to fight and not to have a real conversation, so I quit contributing to my side of the conversation. Several days passed with no communication between us when I received a instant message from him that read "you know, beauty is skin deep but you can't fix stupid."
I deleted him from my friend list and have decided that I will be much happier with no further communication with such a dolt. Anyone else wanna pick a fight?
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