I was at a friend’s house last evening along with a small group of people. As the evening wore on and the alcohol poured easily one person became quite talkative and monopolized the conversation. Others who tried to intervene were consistently “one-upped” by the stories of this individual. At one point there was a very awkward moment when the over served person took offense to the statement of another who was simply being honest about the one upmanship. The silence and discomfort was so pervasive that I wanted to intervene. But I did not because I did not want to be caught in the middle. It wasn’t my battle. How many times does a similar event occur in our daily lives when we see someone being pushy or unreasonable and then when challenged they react like their behavior is acceptable. And how many times do we stand with the person who stands for their belief in challenging the bully? Not enough. Somehow we missed the opportunity to learn this skill in the lower grades, high school and through the early part of our lives. If not us, then who will stand with the person who stands for their beliefs?
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