Sometimes, being the bigger person is tough. It's exhausting. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not worth it, but it still feels like a missed opportunity. More often than not, though, staying quiet and trying to be the bigger person only emboldens others and encourages their bad behavior.
"Try reasoning with them." Trust me, I tried. And I gave up, just like many others who, like me, thought that speaking up was still an option. But silence only made their voices resonate louder.
"Then cut them out of your life." Sometimes, things aren't that simple. Sometimes, you don't just get one person. You get the whole pack.
And it's sad and frustrating to see the whole pack now sliding into the same thing. The same behavior. The same way of distorting reality. And you find yourself wondering: Would they have done this if I had spoken up? If I had continued calling out the bullshit and lies for what they were?
And now, it may be too late.
Not that anything irreversible has happened. But, in a way, it has. And now it may be too late to speak up, because the only voice out there has gone unchallenged for too long... while I was busy being the bigger person.