My sister says, "we teach people how to treat us."

[MissMillie]

ummmm...... yup

[SunnySong]

1. No sex threads

:evilgrin:

[Heidi]

2. On the other hand,

some people are just mean, regardless of whether we invite their meanness. And that's _their_ responsibility.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. yup

[raccoon]

3. I've heard that. I take it to mean that we show by our actions/words how much crap we will or won't

put up with.

As someone else has said, some people are just mean.

[gvstn]

4. Someone's signature line from a site I visit puts in vividly...

Find out just what people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

[zanana1]

9. I think it was Nancy Reagan who said...

Nobody can make you a doormat without your permission. (Or something like that). Though I must say, being the President's wife must be a good way of assserting your power.

[WolverineDG]

10. No one can make you feel inferior without your permission

Eleanor Roosevelt :)

Perhaps Nancy was paraphrasing Eleanor? :)

dg

[zanana1]

11. I'm glad it wasn't Nancy.

And thanks for the correction. I hate to misquote people.

[applegrove]

5. That is absolutely not true. There are evil people out there who will

simply try and destroy what is good about you. No reason except their own egos.

[Lil Missy]

7. Yes, very true.

[jobycom]

8. Interesting. There are at least three different interpretations of that already here.

After only half a dozen posts.

My own interpretation would be that we create the world around us, and the way we act is the way people find it acceptable to act. Sure, there are evil people (one was my brother) and nice people who will act a certain way no matter what. But most people learn what is acceptable by those around them, not by any objective lesson. If most people grave-dance when someone they dislike dies, for instance, a lot of people take from that that grave-dancing is cool.

Other variations of the saying: What goes around comes around, and Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Others have made good points about other ways to interpret that.

[LaurenG]

12. We do

it's about boundaries and being assertive enough to set them. Many people have a hard time saying no or defending themselves when they should, thus giving the other person the idea that it's ok to treat us poorly.

Learning to be assertive takes practice, most people go from passive to aggressive while trying to learn how to do it.
I still swing from it's all ok to stfu and I've been trying to learn to be assertive for years. Old habits etc.

I wish you all the best MissMillie. :hug: