Gents, would love to hear your thoughts on when (or in what scenarios) you feel you need to fight? And conversely, when should you just walk away?
I'm not talking about obvious cases where your life is in danger or the life of someone important to you.
Just last night, a drunk dbag knocked over my motorcycle, shattering one of my mirrors.
As you can guess, I got up in his face and, since the idiot showed no apparent remorse over his actions, it seemed inevitable that we were going to throw down.
But at the last moment, something truly weird happened. I don't know what it was but seeing the dbag upclose made me realize several things all at once, sobered me right the hell up:
1. i noticed he was scared. it was in his eyes. he was young, maybe early 20s, and it looked like he was worried about what the crowd would think of him if he apologized. he was fighting to protect his ego. which led me to realize point #2...
2. i don't know what somebody earning $30,000 a year necessarily looks like, but this kid was its physical embodiment no joke...your generic "30K millionaire." In other words, he just looked like the type of guy who worked menial jobs and never gets out of debt because he spends all of his paychecks on the latest cool gadgets and shit that he can't really afford. Because he cares what people think of him.
3. and then i thought about the fact that (bit of a humble brag here) i'm worth a decent chunk of change now, run my own business, and have a hot piece of ass i could call over to my place in a heartbeat. and so while i have people who rely on me for their living wages, for a sense of purpose, or to fulfill their emotional needs, this idiot nincompoop was proving to everyone that he wasn't a man of any real value to anyone. being willing to fight like you've got nothing to lose means you likely have nothing worth losing.
so even while inebriated, my drunk ass brain instantly calculated that while this loser shitbag did have something to gain from the confrontation, even if it was just a fleeting feeling of finally "winning" after maybe having to take truckloads of shit that day from his boss or some nagging from his bitchy fat donkey's ass of a girlfriend, for me there was no upside whatsoever.
drove off, got the mirror fixed, and went back to just winning at life.
I'm not talking about obvious cases where your life is in danger or the life of someone important to you.
Just last night, a drunk dbag knocked over my motorcycle, shattering one of my mirrors.
As you can guess, I got up in his face and, since the idiot showed no apparent remorse over his actions, it seemed inevitable that we were going to throw down.
But at the last moment, something truly weird happened. I don't know what it was but seeing the dbag upclose made me realize several things all at once, sobered me right the hell up:
1. i noticed he was scared. it was in his eyes. he was young, maybe early 20s, and it looked like he was worried about what the crowd would think of him if he apologized. he was fighting to protect his ego. which led me to realize point #2...
2. i don't know what somebody earning $30,000 a year necessarily looks like, but this kid was its physical embodiment no joke...your generic "30K millionaire." In other words, he just looked like the type of guy who worked menial jobs and never gets out of debt because he spends all of his paychecks on the latest cool gadgets and shit that he can't really afford. Because he cares what people think of him.
3. and then i thought about the fact that (bit of a humble brag here) i'm worth a decent chunk of change now, run my own business, and have a hot piece of ass i could call over to my place in a heartbeat. and so while i have people who rely on me for their living wages, for a sense of purpose, or to fulfill their emotional needs, this idiot nincompoop was proving to everyone that he wasn't a man of any real value to anyone. being willing to fight like you've got nothing to lose means you likely have nothing worth losing.
so even while inebriated, my drunk ass brain instantly calculated that while this loser shitbag did have something to gain from the confrontation, even if it was just a fleeting feeling of finally "winning" after maybe having to take truckloads of shit that day from his boss or some nagging from his bitchy fat donkey's ass of a girlfriend, for me there was no upside whatsoever.
drove off, got the mirror fixed, and went back to just winning at life.