There are some facts of life you just have to accept ...

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When I was a young girl, my brother gave some advice on handling a difficult and confusing situation in my life by asking me two questions and stating a fact. Q 1: Who told you that if you just be nice, everybody will like you? EVERYBODY? Q 2: Who told you that you had to do something bad for people to not like you? FACT: Some people can look at you and make up their own mind they don't like you. You don't have to say or do anything to them at all. Maybe … it's not about you! There are some facts you just have to accept and keep on living your life. * * * I listened to my brother's words. I thought these facts were cruel and harsh. Nevertheless, there was wisdom in those words. I needed to accept the fact that you can NOT control the thoughts and deeds of others. You have to accept the fact that a person does not have to know you in order for them to NOT like you. You have to accept that you could be peaceful, kind, generous, thoughtful, warmhearted, considerate of others. You could bend over backward, going out of your way not to offend others. In fact, you don't even have to offend a person for them to have decided, on their own, with no prodding from you, with no information or knowledge about you, that they just don't like you. Some folks will take it a step further and even HATE YOU. The fact is some people just don't like you. So what! It's not the end of the world. It's life in this world. You have NO control or power over other people. The only person you control is yourself. I learned this life lesson at a very young age. I LEARNED and I LIVED. Knowing this fact did not stop me from living my life and living in the same world with people who decided they did not like me or even hated me. I lived by the Golden Rule and kept on living. There was an alternative LIFE CHOICE. The alternative was to turn somebody's dislike or hatred of me into SELF-LOATHING and to wallow in it. * * * There are a lot of people out there, especially young people, who don't understand this fact. The result of that misunderstanding is they do terrible things. They take a gun to a school or other public place and shoot or kill innocent people and/or they kill themselves. What did that solve? It didn't change the fact. What did it change? Well! ~ BEFORE. They didn't or may not have had an excuse or a valid reason to dislike you. ~ NOW. EVERYBODY HATES YOUR GUTS!!! You gave them a reason to despise you. Is that what you WANTED? Who wants to be HATED? Doesn't everybody want to be LOVED? EVERYBODY! * * * I don't know who you are. I don't know where you are. But if you are contemplating a mass murder or a suicide OR a mass murder and a suicide, I HOPE THIS MESSAGE REACHES YOU. * * DON'T DO IT!! * *