Ready! Aim! Fire!

Credit: http://beatrizmartinvidal.deviantart.com/art/Target-10772463

In my 20 years of life, I've learned two very important things when it comes to friends:
1) Not everyone wants to be your friend and
2) Everyone has that one friend or family member who likes to use you as their own personal punching bag or target in a shooting range. I want to talk about the latter today. I think there is just something about me that gives people the idea that they can whip out their guns and ammo or their arrows and aim them right at me whenever they are in a bad mood or are dealing with something that has absolutely nothing to do with me. And, while I understand that it might just be me being at the wrong place at the wrong time, it pisses me off. 

You know, I'm a very caring person by nature, so I'm always trying to figure out how I can make someone else's day or week better if I am aware that their days might be full of fresh shit, but when the other person decides that I am the one to blame for every damn thing that happens to them, I feel it's only right for me to be a little really insulted and pissed off. Like, I came to your aid to listen or help you work whatever the hell is going on out, and you turn the guns on me? Why? Why the hell does that happen? It's actually kind of funny.... The way it happens, that is.

Them: ... so then my boss got mad at me because I did *blah blah blah* wrong. My day has been a pile of shit!
Me: Man, that sucks. But I'm sure your boss was right to get onto you for that. After all, they are your boss! Maybe you should try harder tomorrow to show them you're not useless.
Them: No, Angela! You know what's useless? You! You're not even listening to me! Why did I even come to you? Why can't you put your emotions aside for once and let me vent? *blah blah blah*
Me: Wait... What? I didn't say -
Them: You're pissing me off! You will never work as hard as me, so don't try to tell me what to do at work! Also, while we're talking about it, you can't have opinions on drugs or love or sex or religion or broadway musicals or shitty emo bands or whether you learn to use chopsticks or good Mexican cuisine! I don't even want to talk to you anymore! Telling you was a horrible mistake!
Me: Uh.
Me: Erm.
Me: Okay.

Like, where does this shit even come from? And it's not just one person who does this to me either! It's almost everyone I have a close relationship with... you know, people I'd expect not to jump on my case like that. It's at school. It's at home. It's people I've only known for a short while. Is it me? Is it them? I really don't even know. But it always leaves me asking: Whose asshole did I uninvitingly penetrate to get that reaction?

I'M NOT GONNA BE A PART OF THIS SYSTEM!

But, of course, like always, I'm the one who ends up apologizing for whatever the hell I supposedly did or didn't say because I'm an adult! (Then again, I'm the one blogging about this... so maybe I'm not an adult?)

Either way, I always know that I'm not an intended target for these people. I'm just there when it's not always the best of times for them.... and things can be messy at those times. And, if anything, I've learned how not to act when I'm upset so I don't cause frustration for anyone I know.

Lesson learned: my friends and family aren't shitty.... just very angry.