At the end of the day, how do you want to be known?
Proverbs 11:17 17 Those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ruin on themselves.
I think I know where people who say, “The world’s a tough place, so you gotta be tough” are coming from now. My guess is the people saying this are tough themselves and we tend to get back what we give out. But not always.
I imagine you’ve encountered some real jackasses in your day. People who like nothing better than to squash you like a bug either emotionally, physically or vocationally. I would wager a guess you didn’t do anything to raise their ire. You were just in the way, the wrong place or the wrong chair. Sometimes, I’ll bet you had nothing whatsoever to do with their foul mood. They came to you spitting fire, spoiling for a fight and loaded for bear. And you bore the brunt of it, didn’t you?
You probably tried to reason with them, to calm them down, maybe even pacify them. Did it work? Did you try several times? Did you ultimately give them exactly what they wanted (a fight)? If you stooped to their level, who won that fight? That’s what I thought. Did you walk away happy? I’ve been there and no, me neither.
The deal is, whether we’re talking about your response to someone coming at you breathing brimstone or just the normal way you carry yourself, it’s your choice. And yes, jerks are hard to handle and they’ll test your resolve, your patience and your temper but wouldn’t you rather be known as one of the “kind” people as opposed to one of the “tough” people? And wouldn’t you feel better about it in the end?
I know for sure it would be to your benefit.