A Conversation That Provoked Thought

I was having a discussion with someone over thanksgiving break about my years here at Howard and how this year has been the worst out of the four, primarily, because of the situations that I've had to deal with. The person began to tell me to look at the positive and not focus on the negative. That's very true. Often in life, we as humans, seem to focus on the negative. It's funny, but the negative seems to take so much of our attention: bad relationships, friendships, what happened to us when we encountered certain circumstances that left imprints on our mind. I told the person that I never realized how much of the negative one harbors on, which is why one ultimately grieves and remains in despair for a brief period of time. The person told me that it's not so much what they are doing to make you mad, but how you let it handle you. I began to think about it even further and realized that people have this unique disposition of keeping you in a box. As long as you are in that box, you do not defy the attitude of how they feel you should be, but the minute you step out of their grasp, they have a tendency to make allegations, threats and they want to make you feel as if you are the one with the issue because you have been alerted to their parlor tricks and rudimentary mind games. People expect you to back up and bow and say "you are sorry" for what they did. The devil is a liar. What on Earth kind of fallacious thinking is that? You know you have met a master at manipulation when they want you to say sorry for what they did. The person began to say that some battles aren't worth it. Why fight something that is dead and over with? That's true - why bother? I have asked myself that a time or two in various situations and have come to this point: when people challenge the very space you take up purely because you have uncovered their shenanigans, you have to stand your ground despite the bandwagon that is formed to make you feel like you are the one that made them act this way. The person then said to me, "well hold your ground - because the last thing you want to do is compromise and back up off of how you feel just because someone is mad that you've figured them out." That person is right too.

Life has many parts, that's right too.

Last songs to play on the iPod...
Janet Jackson - Runaway
Monifah - You
Billy Lawrence - Happiness
Donell Jones - Better Start Talking
Jagged Edge - So Amazing
Seal - Crazy
India Arie - Purify Me