clarionite wrote:TAM,
I'm aware that my size can intimidate. And I've used it to my advantage more times than I can think of, sometimes not even conciously thinking of it till it's over with.
It's just something that you learn to do. But usually it's to keep issues from escalating. I'm very quiet and easy going for the most part. My wife calls me her teddy bear too. But as recently as a month or so ago, I've "puffed up" (intentionally making myself look as large as I can) to make someone who's on the verge of making the decision of engaging me back down. Kids love me, they think of me as playground equipment to climb on. I hadn't thought much about my size working against me much until recently while I was reading these threads. I rarely worry that I've scared someone worse than I've intended because if I've been pushed far enough to blow, then I did intend to scare them that much.
Well, it sounds like you're making your size work
for you. Especially the playground equipment part.
I miss being able to do that. My point was simply that size as an attribute of a predator can be a very bad thing, whereas size as an attribute of a sheepdog is a very good thing; and not everybody has figured out what they are yet—predator or sheepdog. For the undecided, they need to be aware of what their size does to other people, otherwise, it can come close to getting them shot, as it nearly did for the antagonist in the OP. That guy didn't sound so much like a predator as he did an ass, and it nearly got him badly hurt. I suspect that he too has learned to use his size to his advantage, and lacking the social graces, that advantage manifests itself in negative ways.
I would like to think that most members of this forum consider themselves to be sheepdogs to varying degrees. That might be limited to protecting family and other loved ones, or it might be expanded to include society at large. But either way, we're not
predators. Consequently, I would also like to think that those members of this forum who have size to their advantage use it judiciously,
for the right reasons, the same way we might carry and use a gun.
By the way, unless waist size is a qualifier, I'm not a member of the "big boys club."
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
De-escalate the testosterone
