No moral.

              "By trying we can easily endure adversity. Another man's, I mean."
                                        -Mark Twain.

             I recently encountered a situation in which a misunderstanding not only taught me to keep a cool head, but also let me understand a persons character in a way that I had never seen it before. Although unpleasant, seeing this person in a new light may save me oodles of disappointment later down the road.


      The Oxford English dictionary describes a misunderstanding as;

1. A failure to understand something correctly.
2. A disagreement or quarrel.
   
          In my situation, both of these definitions fit correctly. A misunderstanding between my friend and I began with myself as the one in the wrong. After realizing this, and her anger towards me, I explained the situation from my point of view, and even though I had explained where I came from on the misunderstanding, I apologized to tie up loose ends. As apologizing goes, I had expected her to also apologize for falsely accusing me out of anger, and continuing to be angry. I suppose this would be a sort of a 'halfway meeting point'. Valuing our friendship more than my ego, I bowed down and admitted I was in the wrong. She thanked me for apologizing, and then went on to say that she wasn't sorry for her irrational behavior throughout the whole ordeal, and didn't feel in the slightest bit bad about it. I was boggled.
   
          Instead of adding fuel to the flame and defending my point, I let this one go. I took a step back and had a ponder about human character. Ones true colors tend to shine when they are in strong positions of vulnerability and authority. In this case, for her, both had been true at given points in time. Her irrational anger before I told her about the misunderstanding was from a position of vulnerability. She had said and done some things that a sane person would not have done. From a position of authority, when I had apologized, knowing that she had been in the wrong just as much as I had been, she didn't want to admit defeat. Sticking to her headstrong ways and deciding to take my apology and walk all over it, from a position of authority she was also a rude B*&%c.
   
        The moral of my story? I suppose there isn't really a moral. This has been as much of an aimless rant on my computer screen as it has been in my head. If I were to create a moral though, it would be from good old MLKjr. 
    
          "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."