enemies

"you have enemies? good, that means you stood up for something, sometime in your life" - winston churchill

this quotation has ALWAYS bothered me. a lot of people use this quotation as an excuse to be an ass. okay, having enemies means that you disagreed with someone. but that doesn't mean you were right. maybe you're an idiot. maybe you're on the wrong side of history. maybe you're just an asshole and you have enemies because of your personality, not because of your beliefs. and anyway, not everyone liked mother teresa and a shit ton of people revered hitler.

also, being right about something doesn't give you a pass on manners. good for you, being an animal rights activist, but you shouldn't throw paint on people. and right on, you gay rights believer, but don't beat up homophobes. there's a right and wrong way to make enemies. make sure you're making them respectfully and righteously.

nag to nothing

it's interesting how so many of us grow into our parents tho we generally swear we won't. I'm not far enough in my life to know how much of my parents I am, but I certainly am the opposite of my mom in some ways. not that it makes me a better person, and in fact, it's just as bad.

my mom nags about everything. i hate it. so now i nag about nothing. if something rip does bothers me, i'll keep quiet about it for like 8 months. then i'll say something. we'll have a conversation about it but i won't go apeshit and this conversation won't last hours. then i'll say nothing and wait for him to make adjustments, if any. if he makes none, approx 10 months later i'm breaking up with him.

it's ridiculous the lengths we go to to avoid replicating the ridiculous behavior of our parents.