I may have covered this subject already but such cases are best served by examples. I moved to this new environment and right from the beginning a certain individual really rubbed me the wrong way. He was constantly frowning, like I angered him for some reason, would absolutely ignore me when I greeted him in the morning, and occasionally barked at me some command. I wrote him off as a frustrated ignoramus, and although I was filled with angry thoughts because of him, I chose to contain myself, bite my lip, and at least offer him a slight smile or expression of greeting in the morning. This went on for about a week until, out of the blue, he started patting me on the back, was nice to me, and last night asked me to go for a drink with him the next day, saying that he would be “very happy” if I could. The person next to him even asked me if I was a Christian or a Muslim. And now our relationship seems to be on a good track. Just imagine how long it could have taken, if ever, for our relationship to get to this point if I had instantly reacted on my pride and added fuel to the fire? How much more unpleasant my stay would have been if I had reciprocated his stupid behaviour. It is my hunch that he automatically pooled me with our boss, assuming that I was like him, since I had been privy to special treatment and because he mentioned something about me not being like “the others” here. In any case, I am so happy that my conditions are fully pleasant now and, once again, I see the wisdom behind those simple Words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"