This was a particularly hurtful experience,
but somewhere along the line I had also accepted the lessons
‘One cannot change others, but you can change
yourself ‘ and ‘Forgiveness sets you
free.’
I love myself, and because I realise that
at least 85% of the population of the Earth, like me, all
have their relative share of suffering, hurt, anxiety and
dread as they battle to find at least some fleeting moments
of happiness in life, I embraced them all in my love.
I felt compassion for them.
I knew that I wanted to be a good person,
and part of that meant that I should not consciously contribute
to the suffering and hurt of others.
So I embraced all of the above lessons in
a single code of life.
This turns out to be the fundamental flaw
in my revised value system.
When others treat me with disrespect and/or
blatantly use and in some cases abuse me, my first priority
should be to assertively explain to them how it affects
me, and demand my due. If this does not cause them to apologise
and take reparatory action, then they are not worthy of
my love and should simply and thoroughly be discarded.
More importantly, by allowing others, across
the board, to hurt me and then forgiving them because I
have compassion for them and I want to be a better person,
I am playing a pro-active role in hurting myself, and in
the process, those close to me.
