Accepting others... as I too wish to be accepted.

In my heart I believe people are well meaning and try to be good people.
But life being what it is, there are also some real annoying people too.

I just realized that is why God invented "Call Display" for telephones.

If someone is rude or annoying, I am rude back. If someone is nice, I am nice back. Sometimes I don't notice when I'm rude though and it's harder to look in the mirror and realize the way I'm acting. I also hold a grudge too much. I think it is a borderline trait where you either love or hate people (especially family members). A lot of my family is dysfunctional and many don't talk to eachother at all. This is fine though. Nothing says you have to be best friends just because you're related. It sounds Freudian but a lot of it is related to childhood relationships with parents and siblings.

My instinct is to push back when I am pushed.
It worked when I was playing rough sports - American football, hockey, rugby and Olympic wrestling.

It creates "safety" of a sort. Nobody wants to deal with me.
That in turn creates loneliness.

I try and laugh it off now and not get baited. I try not to react.
It has been fun but I've taken some risks. Won a few fights. Been lucky nobody had a knife. mostly it has been wars of words... and I have a wicked mouth and a fast tongue.

It is a big joke to me when someone insults me in a shocking way. I got caught blocking a crosswalk with my car when a traffic light turned red. I didn't think it was a big deal but an ugly woman took offence. Our gestures and insults went back and forth a couple times and I thought I had her when she walked away but she turned around and spit on the windshield of my car. She was as disgusting as she was ugly. I howled with laughter. What a pig!!! She wins!!! I still laugh when I think about it.

But really she was a poor soul that needed to be loved.