Quote Originally Posted by Caledonian Rhyfelwyr
I thought you carried a massive axe everywhere you went? How do you resist?
I'm old enough and (barely) wise enough to know the true evils of violence. I find the idea of hurting another person for reasons of ego to be a shameful and shallow and often cowardly act. If someone wants to impress me with how tough they are, they can show me how well they work, how well they deal with responsibility, and how well they keep their word.

I'm having a beer and I have the time, so I'll tell you a story (I might have told it before) about a guy who "bullied" me at work. At the log yard, we had these two twins working for us, both were a good 6'2", pretty big and pretty tough. Half French/Half Irish. One of the guys was (mostly) ok, the other wasn't. The nasty guy was a real bar fighter and big mouth, he liked to bump into me in the yard when he walked past me, and he'd always make comments, like "Where's your purse?" or "Oh, you're using the woman's tools." Stuff like that. In a fight with this guy, I would have come off badly, I'm sure.

One day he did something, I don't remember what, and I had enough. I went over to a pile of pine logs we used for the houses, picked out a decent sized piece, maybe seven feet long and about a foot across. I put it on my shoulder, and walked up the small hill in the yard ,down the hill, across the yard (maybe 200') and back. (At this point the rest of the guys have come over to watch.) When I got back, I dropped the log at the guy's feet and said, "Until you do that, you're my *****."

Well, the guy picked up the log and put it on his shoulder, turned beet red, walked up the small hill, back down, and dropped the log and nearly collapsed. Now my buddy comes over, says "There's nothing Beirut can do that I can't." He picks up the log, up the hill, down the hill, across the yard and back.. Then my boss does it. Then my other buddy does it except on the way back across the yard he jogs with the log. This guy is tough. By this time we barely notice that the big bar fighting tough guy has gotten in his car and left. He never bugged me after that.

In a fight I'm sure I would have gotten the worst of it, but as a worker, I could leave him in the dust five times over. I'm not sure what the moarl is here other than fighting isn't everything, and bullies can be put in their place without violence.