Ego, Stubbornness, Negativity and Barking Dogs

For months and months a certain road I venture across has these dogs that will chase my vehicle barking and snarling and will chase and bark at me when I walk by. For months and months this has happened. The owners of the dogs know that this is a problem. However, on one such occasion I was walking by (one of the owners was outside) and the dogs ran at me nipping at my heals for 20-30 feet.

What Would You Do?

I started screaming at one of the owners of the dogs, 'Control your dogs, blah blah, this is un-neighborly, blah blah... if this happens again I won't hesitate to shoot them...blah blah blah' Months later the same thing continues and again the owners of the dogs are outside as I drive by and surprise, surprise--the dogs are snarling after the vehicle...

What Would You Do? 

I stopped the car. Yelled at the people 'to control their dogs blah blah or I won't hesitate to shoot them [the dogs].' A while later, the [man of the house] owner finds me, gets in my face and starts cussing me out, calling me all sorts of names and for being a 'pussy' threatening his dogs because 'that's just what dogs do--'chase cars and people'-- 'blah blah.' I let him yell in my face for five minutes and then he left. Naturally, I was upset and angry. Why can't you train your dogs or buy a shock collar so they aren't chasing cars and people every time you walk or drive by? That is not unreasonable...

Who is Right? Who is Wrong? 

In confrontations with people, who is right or wrong is completely irrelevant because people are completely irrational and are subject to their emotions. This whole incident had me thinking about ego and stubbornness because in a way I was just as wrong as this neighbor was and we both over-reacted.

I should have from the moment I was having issues with the dogs called the neighbors and talked to them about it. Instead, I gave them a verbal f-u and let the issue just brew in my system for months and months. They, i'm sure felt the same--here is some asshole threatening their dogs as he drives by. Then finally, both of us exploded again and it lead to a spiral of negativity born out from ego and stubbornness on both parts.

We live in too nice of a place to let negativity control our lives. 

Half of you who are reading will think I'm an ass-hole and over-reacted. Half of you will think the neighbor was an ass-hole and an irresponsible dog owner. It doesn't really matter who is right or who is wrong. What matters is taking steps in your life to get rid of the negativity. That is where the ego and stubbornness comes in. I think I was right and shouldn't have to apologize to this neighbor cause he was an ass and an irresponsible dog owner. He thinks he is right and shouldn't have to apologize to me because I threatened his dogs with lead poisoning.

But then what? 

We can spend our entire lives being pissed off at each other. Some of you are probably thinking, "yeah and so what? I fucking hate my neighbor!" The problem is that by not resolving an issue that you have with friends, co-workers, or neighbors you invite negativity into your life. You may not notice it or even refuse to notice but it's always there and always present. Whenever you see that person the negativity will crop back in and ruin your entire day. Maybe something like this just happened to you recently?

The point is and we all know this but negativity is extremely bad for your health. So, it is incumbent upon us to resolve the issue and get rid of the negativity, if for no other reason than for emotional peace and quiet or at minimum the moral high-ground.

What did I do?

I went over there after the fact wanting to extend an olive-branch of peace. He was still angry at me and I was still upset at the dogs but he shook my hand and we talked for a few minutes before I left. I don't know if he will accept my olive-branch and try to train his dogs (probably not) but I feel better because now I have the moral high-ground and the negativity is gone (well, until the dogs chase me again....)

Until next time. 

Read More: Visualizing Success Won't Make You Successful

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