The older I get, the less I try to tiptoe around other people's feelings. You either like me or you don't. Simple as that. ---Clint Eastwood
This quote I picked up from a Facebook friend's posting a few days ago and I'm running with the idea that it's something the great actor/director actually said...it certainly dovetails with what I know about him. And it's also become pretty certain in my mind that I'm getting older...I'm often reminded of this fact when people automatically give me senior discounts on my purchases. Aging in itself does not impart wisdom, but one thing I have learned over the years is that it's impossible to please everyone and that even if I do or say everything "right", somebody is going to be offended and a few will even venomously despise me...there's no getting around that. I like another quote, this one a line from Max Ehrmann's celebrated prose poem Desiderata: "As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons." This means to treat with benevolent consideration even those whom I dislike or think are toxic and/or disruptive influences in my social world...but only up to a point. So I try...usually successfully...to maintain politeness and goodwill toward those around me. Yet there are people who are so bullying and manipulative that I have to draw the line and assert my own personal boundaries when they egregiously step over that line...this is where Clint's quote kicks again, and no, those people aren't going to see me tiptoe around their precious little feelings. For what it's worth, I happen to like Clint Eastwood...two of his "spaghetti" westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and A Fistful of Dollars are right there near the top of my all-time favorite movies list. And the man is an independent thinker who calls things the way he sees them...if you've followed his politics for the last few years you know what I mean. I wish him the best and appreciate all of his past contributions...
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