On pages 263-264 of The Final Days, by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, we read:
"[President
Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler's] staff
accepted these menial chores with varying degrees of tolerance,
recognizing that the demands he made on them were extensions of the
pressures the President put on him. His temper tantrums were excused on
similar grounds. Nixon raged at Ziegler, they knew, and Ziegler raged
back at whoever was handy."
I can sympathize somewhat with people
who are jerks because they were hurt in life. Hopefully, that sort of
sympathy on my part can keep me from despising them, for despising
people is not good for my own soul, or even my personal interactions,
for that matter. But that doesn't mean that I want to be in any sort of
close relationship with them. And there are situations in which a
person should leave a relationship with extreme types of those sorts of
people----the types that are abusive. But do I admire those who stick
with relationships with difficult people----people who are not abusive,
but who are extremely difficult because of some hurt that they
experienced? I do. I just don't have that sort of unconditional love
within me. I can love from a distance and wish someone the best, but
that doesn't mean that I want a close relationship with that person.
And yet, I somehow hope and expect for people to be understanding of me
and my problems. Maybe I shouldn't have that expectation. I shouldn't
burden people with rules in my mind that I myself am extremely reluctant
to follow.
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