Put Up Or Shut Up

E.E. Cummings once said, ~To be nobody-but yourself-in a world which is doing its best night and day, to make everybody else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fight; and never stop fighting.~ For the most part, each of us live a hard knock life in which we either metaphorically or physically fight certain situations we all have been or are going through. Its the unpredictability of life that we instinctively keep our guard up at all times in order not to get knocked out, in a manner of speaking. You never really know what is in store for each of us as we wake up, get ready for the day, and step outside one's door each day. Let me ask you this question, whether its metaphorical or physical, what throw downs have you gone or are going through in your life?

In our daily lives, we metaphorically fight to survive in order to get to the next day. For some, most or all of us struggle to keep our head above water as we all battle to get that mighty dollar into our individual bank accounts. It can be an embarrassing situation indeed when one receives a "black eye" due to the fact that you don't have enough money or no money at all to pay the bills. Bills that have the power to take away your electricity, house, car, material possessions, and even yourself either temporarily or permanently. When it comes to money, are you financially set for life to where you have absolutely no worries or are you in a constant face off with others who say the same thing you do which is, Show me the money!

Essentially, a person can both metaphorically and physically fight for someone who one absolutely feels strongly for. For some, most, or all women, it can be considered romantic and a bit comical when a guy or group of guys fight not only for the attention of a particular female but also for her heart, which can also happen the other way around as well. In sense, its like the NBC show Average Joe or MTV's hit dating show Next, where guys and girls vy for the attention of one man and one woman. Oftentimes, the metaphorical fight can turn nasty to the point where it becomes physica; as emotions run so high that words are said, fist fly, teeth are lost, hair is pulled, and what was considered a romantic situation is now a situation that's completely out of hand.

Without a doubt, we've all been in a physical fight that you either won, lost, or nobody won at all. Every person tends to remember a fight that sticks with them and for me personally it was back in my middle school days and to this day that fight is being talked about, which shows that particular fight had staying power. In any case, fighting can be considered a right of passage, mainly for guys, as cuts and bruises received from that fight were seen as a badge of honor depending if it was one's first fight or not. For the question can be asked, when was the last time you had a fight, who was it with, what/who was it over, and do you remember where you where when the fight happened?

Working in the asylum, you're not just a counselor; your also a profiler, referee, judge, jury, negotiator, detective, and add to that list a cooler. Early monday morning, a couple of "my teenage kids" were talking smack to each other and it got to the point where they were about to throw down, which I immediately got in between them. Now imagine a 5'3/155 pound 28 year old guy trying to hold back/cool down a 5'7/190 pound 13 year old teenager who could have easily picked me up and used me as a lawn dart, but he didn't. The potential of a fight was squashed because cooler heads prevailed and quite frankly nobody wanted to get written up because of it. In the end, when you're talking smack about somebody and a fight might happen, there comes a point where you have two choices which are put up or shut up.