Selfless

How does one  behave with people who think that your goodness and your love and concern for them reduce you to a stupid fool? Wonder of wonders is that these very people would be licking the feet of extremely inferior others who ill-treat them, look down upon them, mock them! 

Are such people naive? Surely not! May be, they know, for whatever may be their  reasons, which side their bread is buttered. No harm in it! In a way, that attitude of theirs is an indication that they know perfectly well how to take care of themselves. Good for them!

But when they consistently behave badly with you, demean you through their very body language and/or intonation, through the looks they direct at you and thus show you repeatedly, reveal openly that you are absolutely a nobody  for them, how should you behave with them  just because you continue to care for them?

Sure one would not be able to harm them or expose them. Not even in one's wildest dreams! But at the same time one learns to take care of oneself, too. Being kind, good, gentle or honest, caring for others does not mean that they should be allowed to reduce you to a non-entity.

Being selfless because you care for a  person deeply does not mean you give that person a carte blanche to ride roughshod on your genuine feels, your deep emotions. If a person never even bothers to call you, never invites you home or to any occasion which is not in the public glare, behaves with you worse than a stranger when you have to be at their place, does not give you the new mobile number, does not answer your wapp messages, never wishes you, throws away your costly gifts, never stands by you nor helps you even during days that are difficult for you, blames you for sins/mistakes you never committed, never appreciates anything about you, on the contrary, (un)consciously allows others to hurt/harm/bother you, while this very person is hyper considerate with others, I suppose, one should take the cue the person is giving you so openly, so loudly, so clearly. Just because you cannot stop caring for that person does not mean that you always make excuses for that person, that you forever worry about the possible personal/professional problems to justify the (c)rude behaviour, and allow that person to constantly belittle you.And, oh, yes, you are absolutely not so bad either that you would be forever wrong, especially because you are constantly worrying yourself to death over every minor issue to avoid any misunderstanding, eternally looking at everything first from their perspective!

In brief, selfless goodness does not mean being self-less.Decency does not mean being a dud. The only way one continues to care for such people is to pray , pray, pray for them selflessly.  When so genuine are your wishes for them, the whole universe is going to back your efforts for their well-being.

Pratima@ never ever any compromise with self respect!