Miss Independence

Have you ever faced a difficult situation when you had to choose between sorting it out yourself, or asking someone else for an easy fix? What did you choose — and would you make the same choice today?

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I was born on the Fourth of July. My mom always told me there couldn’t have been a more perfect day for me to make my appearance. I like to do it myself. I like to figure out my own stuff. Asking for help rarely enters my mind. I will struggle for hours over a problem to solve it myself rather than call on someone who could deal with it in a nanosecond. Dumb, huh?

There was an incident in college. I won’t go into the why, when, or where. Just believe me when I tell you it shouldn’t have created a fire storm, but it did. I politely refused to do something that I felt was wrong. Hoo boy. Did the sky fall? Oh yes. Students, especially female students, were not particularly well thought of for taking a stand against the status quo. Never entered my mind to call my dad, who could have eased the situation for me. Never entered my mind to call anyone. I figured it was my choice, my fight, my conviction. I would take my lumps, if need be, and deal with things the best I could.

As it turned out, when I spoke with the person in charge and explained my behavior, she acknowledged my right to act according to my conviction. She didn’t like it, and I never ever made any points with her in the years that followed, but she made no further issue out of it.

I would probably make a different stand today. Some things that were important to me then no longer seem very important now. Would I make the same choice, though, if I could go back in time, being who I was, and what the issue was?

Yes. No doubt. And I probably wouldn’t call anyone to help me out, either.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/calling-uncle-bob/