Inspiration

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Is It Ever Good or Right To Be Mean?

Posted by Cell Block Legendz Administrator

09/01/2020

Cell Block Legendz Does Not Own The Rights To This Image

There are various ways to perceive the picture above for this article. Some ways are that the smiling woman can be the cunning provocateur of what appears to be the man’s mean or angry reaction where she just took a low and insulting shot at him below the belt and is taking pleasure in his reaction, the man who appears mean or angry is just being a mean SOB and the woman is choosing not to show that it’s negatively affecting her, or the man on the right can be playfully joking with her and she appears to not mind his antic.

For the sake of this inspirational article, we will rule out the third option. If the man is joking, the intensity of his emotions appears confusing and over-the-top. Regarding the smiling woman, not everyone enjoys or is comfortable with being on the receiving end of what appears to be volatile joking that could be toxic or dysfunctional.

We get that some people may claim that they do not intend to offend, yet their behavior can come off negatively or mean. Some people may exhibit mean behavior toward others and say that they did not mean it while others may harmlessly say the wrong thing at the wrong time with no dishonest and ill intent. Some people may believe that if someone really loves or cares for you that they will not want to do anything that you would perceive as mean. 

One may need to not only look at the actions of others and not buy into their claimed intent that they did not intend to do something when they did. Or, it is possible that someone can do something that is unintentionally offensive or that brought harm. There are a lot of factors that may come into play when deciding the true intent of others.

Human relationships can be complicated sometimes. Things can get complicated when intent collides with actions and honesty, dishonesty, or self-honesty. The Golden rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ seems to be straightforward enough. 

However, there seems to be cases when obeying this rule does more harm than good, especially when dealing with people who have no regard for the rule or for the well-being of other people. For civil people who believe in maintaining positive energy, this is where things can get complicated.

There are different perspectives on this issue. Some people believe that is it okay to be mean. Some people believe that you should respect only those who respect you and never tolerate disrespect, because allowing people who are clearly uncivilized to treat you in such manner signals a lack of self-love and self-respect. These views are a few extremes. 

People on another extreme hold the opinion that kindness is always the answer. Of course, that clearly is not the case, because we have all met people who prey on kindness and take advantage of generosity. 

Yet, somehow, they also seem to make themselves the victim or swear by heaven and Earth that they cannot stand drama or mean people. Yet, through learned behavior, they subconsciously and blatantly dish out drama and being mean without thought becomes normalized behavior for them. We are not referring to people with chemical or hormonal imbalances in their brains or delving into aspects of abnormal psychology in this article.

While it may appear that the view that kindness is always the answer to respond to meanness from others may make sense, it is wise to consider that acts of meanness may not always be deliberate. To be human is to deal with a whole host of emotions and disturbances; the stress of survival in a world that seems to be indifferent, maintaining relationships, taking care of your body and health, and being a good man or woman, among other issues, plagues every human being, at every point in time.