Tag Archives: passive-aggressive

What If..?

2
Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

October 9, 2022-

What if there was a holiday, and everyone stayed in bed?

What if the day off had no theme, or everyone just made their own?

What if every gift you had in mind for loved ones just sat, and accumulated, because they were too busy to see you?

What if, on the other hand, there were commitments you made, months ago, and people come to you anyway, with urgent requests that necessitate schedule changes-and broken promises?

I have had these situations crop up, and have had to gently point out that each day needs some organization, some effort at accomplishing at least the daily necessities. It occurs to me that every day, whether workday or holiday, brings interaction with others, and that courtesy and self-responsibility, never take days off. It also comes to mind that people who insert themselves into other peoples’ lives are either not thinking matters through, and are either being coyly disruptive, or at least passive-aggressive.

I am much better, in my own space, at not wanting center stage in someone else’s play, and in, conversely, gently guiding people away from making random requests that are solely designed to get my attention-when I am already in a committed activity.

Omaha, etc.

0
Posted by on in Community, impediments, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

October 28, 2020-

I am now 69 years, 11 months of age. The most transformative decade of my life is almost ready to give way to a time which is bound to be even more transformative.

I wrote, yesterday, about children and elders deserving to be valued by everyone in their community. So, it was with great consternation that I learned of thirty or so people stranded in bitter cold, after a political rally in Omaha, last night. Granted, there was a storm and it was hard to navigate icy roads, but this was Omaha-where such things happen regularly. The well-being of children and seniors should have been taken into account-before the rally even started. Let the blame fall where it belongs, but I hope there are, finally, lessons learned- and that nobody ends up dying from it.

Closer to the everyday ground, what is it with people who accost strangers in stores, and demand attention, by blocking the stranger’s path-all the while not observing physical distance and breathing all over the items the stranger(s) are trying to purchase? I am not asking for myself, but for those who have had difficulty, of late, with rude people standing in front of them, and refusing requests to be excused. I have a hard time with passive-aggressive folks, in the first place, and have gotten better at (nicely, at first) calling them out.

My hope and prayer is that these cases of viewing other people as unimportant will NOT result in acts of violent retribution.

The Road to 65, Mile 124: Stuff and Nonsense

2
Posted by on in Social

April 1, 2015, Prescott-  I spent the day with Second-Graders, enjoying the silliness of April Foolery, at the elementary level:  “Look, your shoes are untied”  So much innocence, and underlying trust that things are basically okay, fuel the basic sense of relaxed fun.

It doesn’t last, and more’s the pity.  I fielded a phone call from my landlord, who lives in another state.  He learned of my client’s lingering presence on our compound, and gently-for now- expects me to bring the situation to a close.  I gave my client two more days to move along.  My eviction is neither a joke, nor an option.

His reaction was predictable, and after finding him a motel room, in lieu of his sleeping under the stars, in a forest not far from here, I formulated a plan to keep his belongings safe, should he revert to a passive- aggressive abandonment of them.  That may well be how the situation “ends”.

That’s the thing about endings; they are usually hiatuses, breathers that are designed to give the tormented soul a chance to regroup his/her thinking, in light of a reality that is hard to comprehend.  Here’s the rub, with my client:  He was never really parented.  Raising oneself, even in the rather tame world of the 1950’s, leaves lots of gaps.  One only learns to consider others if one has a mother and/or father, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, who is modeling such relative selflessness.

So, I would find room in my storage closet outside, for the dozen or so boxes he has organized, and when he, or his adult children, show up to collect them, the stuff and nonsense that have played out over the past four months will have not caused any harm.