… or anything other than a Bigfoot researcher. Not really, but that’s how I feel some days.
Is it me, or is this field sometimes the emotional equivalent of junior high school?
Having been at this for 20 years, I decided a long time ago to stay out of the politics. I don’t much care who likes whom, who is allied with whom this week and who’s slighted whom. I learned a long time ago that nearly every person I know in this field has felt slighted at some point by 4 out of 5 other people I know. Some people won’t work with people who work with other people who work with other people… and it goes on like that.
If I avoided every person that I didn’t absolutely, 100% agree with, I don’t think I’d have very many people left to talk to. ;)
Some folks are quick to talk trash about others. The funny thing is, when people start in on talking smack about others behind their backs to me, it really doesn’t do much to affect my overall opinion of the person who’s being trash-talked. I usually reserve judgement and base my opinion on direct dealings with an individual. It does begin to affect my opinion of whomever is talking the trash, however, if it’s pervasive and consistent. There are, after all, two sides to every story. And if they tell you someone wronged them, it’s suddenly your express duty to join their hate-brigade against so and so – otherwise, if you’re not for them, you must be against them! I learn not to get too close to those folks… they tend to be caught in a perpetual victim cycle and I’m not really fond of dealing with people who feel they’ve been wronged by everyone they’ve ever met. You simply can’t do anything right by them and you’re likely the next person on the list to end up “victimizing” them and being trash-talked, no matter how you conduct yourself.
I prefer to surround myself with folks who are emotionally mature, stable, and who also stay out of the politics and ego-driven hoopla that’s so pervasive in this field.
Have I felt wronged? Meh. Occasionally. You can’t do this as long as I have and not have certain conflicts or differences. There are a few people in this field that I simply choose not to associate with because I feel they’re difficult to work with. Once burned, and all that rot. A couple strike me as clinically… something. Scary. *grin* But I don’t run around trash-talking them and trying to make everyone else hate them because I don’t like the way they behaved. I simply limit my interactions with them. I don’t have much time as it is. I save what little time and energy I do have for those with whom I’m capable of maintaining a respectful, mutually beneficial relationship.
I just wish more people in this field would approach things this way. Imagine what we could accomplish if our time and energy were spent constructively!
