Tragedy

Weeping, wailing, sobbing, crying.
Hurtful pain and deadly dying.
Anger, rage, and bitterness,
A cold and dreary wilderness
Where darkness darkly shadows me
And sorrow mourns and pities me.
The bleakest blackness,
Deep despair,
Sweet oblivion,
Take me there.
Demented madness,
Going nuts.
Dang!
I sure hate papercuts.

-B.C. Byron
I’m not crying. I just got something in my eye at the same exact time as this paper cut.
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Sometimes things seem terrible and bleak when we’re locked inside our own heads. If we could step back and imagine ourselves as someone else watching the drama of our little tragedy, it might seem a little less serious. The tough guy in this poem probably pushes himself hard lifting weights and does things in the gym that would make other people cry and beg for mercy, but this tiny papercut puts him over the edge somehow. You may have heard the phrase “make a mountain out of a mole hill”. I think this phrase applies well to the overreacting papercut guy. Sometimes we become so fragile to discomfort and changes in our lives that even a tiny mole hill looks like a mountain we can’t climb, or a papercut becomes a horrific, crippling, canyon of a wound that keeps us from going to work the next day. A little perspective can help here. Maybe pause and pull out the tape measure to get an objective look at that mole hill. How tall is it really? The tape measure won’t lie to you. If you don’t have a tape measure handy, maybe you can ask a friend nearby, “does this look big to you? Am I overreacting?” A good friend will tell you when you’re making too big a deal of something. They may also have some advice on how to handle the situation.

All that said, keep in mind that we shouldn’t make harsh judgements about other people’s difficulties. There is usually background information that you don’t have. It may be tempting to think that this guy is being a big baby and tell him so, but do you really know how he feels? Maybe he has a rare nerve condition that makes papercuts feel like his finger has been ripped off. Maybe he once had a papercut that really was bleeding so badly he almost died. It’s unlikely, and he probably is being a wimp, but it doesn’t hurt you to show a little compassion and bring him a bandaid. If he brings up the papercut 10 more times that week, okay, then you can tell him to suck it up. But it’s better to start with the assumption that his suffering is more than you know and give they muscle-bound cry-baby a little break. Maybe he’ll be more inclined to give YOU a break when you whine about doing your taxes.

Poetic Fury

I have a bag of poems
And I'm not afraid to use it.
If I start to get all prosey,
I've been known to really lose it. 

I can flex my wordy guns,
I can box your ears with rhymes,
Then I'll slap you with a stanza,
Hit you hard with fifty lines. 

Don't you make me use my poems,
coz I'm reaching for one now.
I can bet you're getting worried.
Ow!
Fists are not allowed!

-B.C. Byron
Don’t make me get out my bag of poems! I won’t hold back, and I can’t be held responsible for the all poetic destruction.
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There are many ways to fight and win a battle besides fists and guns. Unfortunately, some nations resort to war and some individuals insist on punching each other in the face to make a point. Some other people win a fight with words (or poems in my case). Some people win a battle by repeating themselves over and over and over until the other side caves in from pure annoyance. You might have experienced this method with a younger sibling. Some will get a bunch of other people who agree with them to form a mob and then follow their enemies around. This also happens online, unfortunately. Some win their battles by researching carefully and then sharing data that supports their point of view while objectively considering other data that might go against their point, but… that way can be tedious.

There are times to fight and make a fuss in life, but they don’t come that often and it usually doesn’t hurt to take a few quiet moments before we respond to something that IS worth fighting about. The fact is, most things we get fired up about are about as ridiculous as this poem, if we really think about it. Zinging someone on social media when they post stuff you don’t like may seem like a win, but the reality is that you’ve done exactly what the poster wanted. We all seem to get caught in that trap now and then. And don’t we feel sheepish two days later when we think about it? Nobody is going to change their mind about something because you sent them a rude meme. Seriously. I think my favorite way to win a battle is by NOT responding. Use this weapon whenever you can. The one who appears too busy to respond to nonsense is the person who makes the strongest point. Take the time you would have spent shouting and posting back to write a poem instead. A hefty smack with a bag of rhymes might be enough to cool things off.