Taking the 'high' road

When I was younger,I was always one of the children who just shriveled and died whenever there was a long exchange of not-so-nice words. Because of having been brought up in a rather conservative family(to put it nicely), I never really had a come-back ready whenever the neighborhood bully/ cool kids threw a rather mean word(s) my way. It always bothered me and I'd stand rooted in one spot, still at a loss for words but shaking with anger because somewhere deep down, I believed I had to be better than that. I would then lay awake in my bed later than night thinking up of all the possible come-backs I could have used, but in the end dismissing them all as not good enough. At around 3:00am, it would finally come to me: the perfect come-back. I'd barely be able to sleep and all day the next day, I would wait for the cool kid to try and pull another fast one on me. Talk about too little too late; I would never get the chance to use my perfect come-back because he/she would have already moved on to tackle new challenges, leaving me behind with the rest of the victims in their 'Been there, totally burned that to the ground" category.

Maybe it was a bit of a prophetic word because come high school, I took all that flipped it and reversed it! I don't even know where the words would come from, if maybe there was an auto-spring in some part of my brain that just always knew when I might need a mean sentence or two and made sure to have it ready each and every time, some times even when it was not necessary. Yes, I was a mean girl.(But I'm reformed now, promise). I guess in defense of all the meanies out there, there were times I did not know I was being mean, It was just something that had to be said or done. Now I was the one keeping people awake at night, looking for come-backs... Being on the serving end was not as much fun as I thought it would be but if any one had dared to talk to me about taking the high road, I would have straight out punched them in the mouth. Where was the high road when I was having three-hour nights all because I could not come up with a good come-back fast enough?

Come adulthood; where people don't just throw a few mean words your way. Human beings do mean things, really really REALLY mean things, sometimes on purpose, sometimes right to your face, and sometimes things that are down right cruel and actually affect your whole life. Sometimes I want to go back to the receiving end, and other times I'm thinking enough is enough and two can play this game, time to give the son of a gun a taste of their own medicine, and I have honestly tried out both sides of the coin if I'm being perfectly honest. Right now though, I have learned (and I'm still learning) to just stand back, relax and enjoy the show. It took me a good while to get here but you will almost never find me in any sort of power play or exchange driven only by the motive to humiliate or prove that I too can play the game.

So when I say take the high road, It's my honest advise from experience. Of course the word 'high' here in no way implies that you, person x, who is taking the high road is a better individual than person y, the one who is making you have to choose in the first place. Good things happen to bad people all the time, and even bad people have some good manners but here is why you should take the high road anyway. The Webster dictionary defines the high road as 'The most ethical and honest method'.  I like to think of it as stepping out of Karma's circle, the one that keeps going and coming round. We all know Karma,right?  The nice lady that goes around evening out the score, making sure you pay your dues and bringing your actions right back to your doorstep? The one who each and every one of us must bump into one or more times in our lives no matter how hard we try to cover up our tracks? Here's you when you decide to join the fight and get down and dirty.

I'm not saying that what you are doing is necessarily wrong, but the fact is you're still in it,and you better hope and pray that you really were doing the right thing. Now here is you, when you take the high road.

It's like walking into a game reserve knowing full well there are tigers in there. I'm not saying you can not out run the tiger, but why would you even want to find out if you can or can not? It's like hearing about a reality show that went horribly wrong and you were meant to be a part of it, but instead you get to sit down on your comfy couch, in your comfy clothes and watch it in HD as you enjoy some yummy popcorn. Isn't that just the life?

I know it's never as easy as it sounds. I know it hurts to watch someone supposedly get away with doing something basically criminal especially to you, or someone you care about. I also know its a rather humbling process to watch them do it over and over while you just zip your mouth and do nothing about it even when you actually can. Jesus was not high on anything when He said turn the other cheek( Matt 5:39). By doing nothing, you are actually doing everything, because then you have not narrowed the vengeance down to only what you are capable of. By saying nothing, you are actually saying everything. If you do not believe me, (or Jesus for that matter), then just do it because it rounds out your character.

Take that high road, not because you want to, but because karma is one bad b****!