How do you react?

How do you react?

I think that how you react to others whose beliefs, habits, or lives may differ from your own goes a long ways toward showing how willing you are to leave people alone to live their own lives as they see fit as long as they are harming no innocent person.

Just a few examples from my own life:

I was once standing in line at a counter when the person in front of me pulled money from his pocket and as he did, a small bag of marijuana fell to the floor. He didn't realize it had fallen out and I quickly scooped it up and tapped his shoulder, saying "You dropped this". He was incredibly grateful.

On a couple of occasions I have had men express an interest in me. I just say I am not interested without making an issue of it. It is no different than having a woman express an interest in me if I am not interested in her. There is no need to get "all macho" and offended over it, and certainly no reason to threaten to beat anyone up as I have seen happen.

A former wife of mine worked in a convenience store and kept bragging that she would call the cops on anyone (other than a LEO) she saw with a gun in "her" store. (Of course, she never complained about my armed presence during the overnight shifts when she worked alone!) One day, after she had finished waiting on one particular man and he had left the store, I casually asked why she hadn't thrown him out or called the cops on him. She claimed she didn't see the (rather large and obvious) revolver on his belt. I just mentioned that she might want to pay closer attention to her surroundings if she wanted to stay safe. Personally, I think it was all bravado on her part, and she had no intention of doing any such thing. Still, I wanted to say so much more than I did.

This isn't to say I have always taken the best course, especially during my teenage years. Life is a journey, and all any of us can do is keep improving. Don't beat yourself up over things in the past that you can't do over or fix.