Years ago I saw a bumper sticker on a car in California that read:

Mean people suck!
Nice people swallow.

I have never forgotten that bumper sticker.  Now I realize it is intended to have an additional meaning…a meaning that I will not be visiting in my blog today.  I have to tell you, in the many times I have quoted this over the years I have always smiled a bit that of all the things I have not been able to retain in my mind (to include some really important information), I have retained this.  It literally must have been twenty plus years ago that I saw this bumper sticker in passing on a car…one time…decades ago…talk about leaving an impression.

So the question is why do I continue to retain this after all these years?    I do love double entendres, but I think there is more to this than that.  Remember, I was a shy and meek soul for a long period in my life and I encountered many mean people over the years.  I historically I have not done well with mean folks – typically, it has resulted in my soul being crushed and me crying.

As the years have gone on I have become tougher – at least on the outside.  On the inside though, the shy and meek girl still resides and the delicate soul still gets crushed…and if there is crying, well that is reserved for private moments.  I have learned over the years that the key is to appear as tough as nails and to remember that the world is replete with folks who don’t really care about others’ feelings.  Mean people are mean, not because you deserve it, but because that is who they are.  That is an important lesson.

It is true though – mean people suck!  They hurt the fragile and cause carnage with little regard…there really should be a law.  Nice people, on the other hand, really do swallow – swallow any angst they may personally be feeling, swallow the urge to act out, swallow the urge to bring someone else down to make themselves feel better – they swallow and by virtue of that they are nice.

As I have aged my patience for mean people has lessened dramatically.  I especially lose patience with mean people who pick the weak out of the pack to abuse…and I think “lose my patience” is the nicest way I can put it…it actually royally pisses me off.  Being mean enough to bring someone to tears is almost always uncalled for.  When I see that happen it triggers every anti-bully, anti-mean person touchpoint in my being and I feel compelled to step in because there are some things I just can’t swallow…be advised.

Day three hundred and ninety-six of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C