I was asked to do a "survey" and comment on a "friend"...You know...one of those forwarded emails where you "take a test" or put your answers after a series of questions...
I rarely ever do those, mostly because they are a waste of my time, and partly because a lot of them carry viruses on the computers, so I end up deleting anything that gets forwarded.
This one was different, and I was surprised at what first came to mind when I read it. I did not answer the email, but had some very strong feelings about it...like wanting to tell this person, "BECAREFUL OF WHAT YOU SEND AND ASK, SOMEONE JUST MIGHT TELL YOU THE TRUTH".
There is this person in my life, I will not mention who this person is, who sent me one of those quizzes where we were supposed to list the first 5 things that came to mind about that "friend".
Now this is going to sound so horrible and mean (I did NOT send this back), however the first five things that came to mind were:
- SELFISH and SELF-CENTERED (horribly and daily)
- DISHONEST (lies constantly to family and friends)
- MANIPULATIVE (whines, pouts, and stomps to get what they want, coerces others to follow bad advice and example)
- IRRESPONSIBLE (with everything--people, feelings, money, business...)
- SHALLOW (very superficial and lacking serious substance!)
I was saddened that I had those first feelings, and could not find anything nice to say about this person right away. I have been struggling with it, and super tweaked at letting a stupid email be on my thoughts for this long.
I guess I need to examine why I have these feelings (I believe they are clear as to why I have them from my perspective) and then secondly, what to do about them? Do I let them go? Do I try to explain them? Do I address them with this person?
Even my DH was surprised that I could not come up with positive characteristics...i am almost always the optimist or positive one in the family!
We'll see what happens....
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