Goliaths will Always Be There

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing," Frankl wrote in Man's Search for Meaning, "the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

My roommate sent me this quote in an article about Viktor Frankl (holocaust survivor and well known psychiatrist). I think it encompasses this new realization I have about life: one must choose what kind of attitude they take with them where ever they go.

It's no secret that I am non-confrontational. I am awful at discussing ugly things about people and am usually found beneath one's front door as the immortal "doormat". I hate confrontation. Currently, I am being met with a sticky situation with a bully in my life. She is manipulative, hurtful, out for her own agenda and I can't seem to say "no" to her. She is my current day Goliath. I keep wondering to myself if I will ever stand up to her...

Then I think back to a year ago and my work at the senior citizen non-profit I worked for. My Executive Director was a HUGE bully. He would lie, cheat and steal to get his way and use his commanding presence and blowhard voice to run people over. He was my Goliath of 2012.

Then, I think back to my time in Bridgeport and I think of some of the personalities I met there. Goliaths in there own right and it makes me stop and recognize a pattern...

All this time, I have been living a very naive life thinking people will always be nice and if I just eliminate this "toxic" Goliath from my life then I'll be done with having to deal with bullies. Well, after analyzing the data, I have come to the conclusion that Goliaths will never go away. Let me repeat that once more (more for my sake): GOLIATHS WILL NEVER GO AWAY!

There will always be a rude, hurtful, confrontational bully in my workplace or social life or elsewhere. They are like the stones David used to knock him out...everywhere.

So circling back to the quote, I think about my attitude when approaching these modern day Goliaths and I wonder if maybe my outcome would be more healthier if my attitude was more determined; more to the point; more direct and more tough towards these bullies. Maybe the role of the doormat will never end until I finally decided to say enough is enough, pick up a stone and metaphorically slingshot it into the forward of my confrontation.