Be Nice or Be Gone*

They have the innate ability to suck the joy out of any occasion and can turn a happy celebration into a wake in under 3 minutes flat. They can even make perpetually positive people, such as myself, contemplate the sweet release of ritual suicide in order to escape them.

They are the Concrete Shoe people.

I call them this because they drag you down as if you were wearing weighted footwear into a hypothetical swimming pool...pulling you down, down, down into the darkness that is their world.

Their words are toxic, their attitude is acidic, and they are easy to spot with their sour faces and critical glare. Right now you are probably picturing one in your mind aren't you? You know exactly the person I'm talking about.

I'm not referring to those people who excel at sarcasm and come armed with a sharp whit. On the contrary, I love them. Irony? Huge fan! Dry humor? Yes, please.

No, the Concretes are devoid of humor and lack the ability to enjoy the levity in life.

There isn't a situation they cannot twist. Won the Pulitzer? They'll find a grammatical error! Won the lottery? They'll quote statistics to show you how unhappy you will eventually become. Happily married? Never fear! They'll relate every horrible divorce story they can think of. Had a bad day? Oh their day was FAR worse than yours (what were you thinking?).

Nothing is safe from the Concretes.

Nothing.

The Concretes are not any fun to have around and I try to avoid them at all cost, but they do manage to find me from time to time. It is always a painful experience.

Now, I have been blessed with a seemingly endless supply of empathy for most people and normally I can find a modicum of compassion for anyone. However, the Concretes thwart my every effort. No matter how hard I look to find something to like about them...I come back empty handed.

It's a major struggle, believe me.

Lord knows I give it my all and do work hard on remaining civil during those horror filled moments...but it takes every ounce of willpower to not grab them by the collar, pull them close so that we are standing nose-to-nose and hiss between clenched teeth, "For the sake of all that is good and holy SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

I get that we all have bad days. I am a full believer in venting, throwing fits, or letting off steam...but a full-on Lewis Black routine every waking hour is just too much.

I'm sorry you've had a bad day/week/month/life...really I am (seriously, not an ounce of sarcasm there...honest!). But if life really sucks that badly, then do something about it. It's your life and only you can choose to change it.

If you are so miserable that you have to bring everyone around you down to your level, then you need therapy and possibly an enema. You obviously have a case of the grumpies that cannot be cured by ice-cream and hugs...you need serious help my friend.

But my faith says I'm to love my fellow humans, right? Absolutely! I love even the grumpy people...but I don't have to like them. I certainly don't have to hang out with them and be bombarded by their non-stop toxic verbage. I can love them from a distance...and I will.

If you ask for prayer, need to talk about what is bothering you, or are just feeling lonely and need a friend...I'm all over that. Not a problem...glad to help. But if you want to just whine and complain, or criticize, then move along...there is nothing to see here.

*Title taken from a sign once on display at my favorite Cocoa deli.