There comes a time when you can’t run and hide and you’re going to have to stand up and fight. We constantly hear messages from the sages speaking of passivity and letting everything go. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work in the real world and in real time. Often times people take advantage of the “nice guys” and those are the ones that you should really watch out for, because they’ll be the ones who will come out of a “funny bag” on you, as my dad always says. Life can be a bully and you take and take until that one fateful day when you decide to rise up and take out your enemy for good.

In the movie Enough, Ginny says to her friend who is being abused that, “You have a divine animal right to protect your own life and the life of your offspring.” Out in the wild, animals don’t hesitate to take out those that try to prey on them and their young. There’s no regret, remorse, guilt or shame- purely basic animal instinct. Humans are suppose to be the highest form of animal, but are we? At least with other mammals, with the exception of dolphins, don’t have a higher intellect like humans. However, with all that intellect our basic instincts never fully go away. They lie dormant and when triggered we have the fight or flight instinct.

My girlfriend and I were exchanging texts the other day from the HBO series Game of Thrones.  We love that the women characters in this show are “hellified” and don’t back down for anyone. The scene where they are coming for Cersei, the queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, asking her to relinquish her throne or expect violence, “She calmly and coldly says, “I chose violence.” She’s a character whose main attributes are her… “lust for power, transgressive viewpoint, scheming, and her love for her children, who she seeks to protect.” I am not an advocate of any form of violence, but the dark side of my heart screamed with absolute glee that this wickedly fierce and powerful woman stared all these men in the face and felt no fear. She was ready for all the smoke and all the fire! And I for one, was here for it!

Charles Darwin stated that, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Good thing I love change! My adaptive style is to address issues head on and from there either decide to find something to love about it- or leave it be for good. I’ve always been the nice guy- that is -until I’m not. Don’t let this huge smile and amiable personality fool you. I like to get along with people and laugh and have fun, but if you take my kindness for weakness one too many times, I will turn into Queen Cersei in a heartbeat. I suppose I’m trying to say that everyone has their breaking point in life. A time when they have had enough and they aren’t taking anyone’s crap anymore.  Let’s not even get on what I turn into when people are messing with my children. It’s nothing short of….”RELEASE THE KRAKEN!”

You probably are wondering where I’m going with all this rhetoric. This is my battle cry to all my good-natured people of the world out there who were raised well and treat people kindly, but frequently get pushed by friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers with critical commentary, lack of basic support, and down right rude antics. If you’ve turned the other cheek and it keeps happening- clearly they don’t respect you- so respect yourself and either exit stage left or stand up and fight- metaphorically speaking, of course. Take that God-given animal instinct that you have and live and let die. Maybe a bit extreme but, “I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees” Euripides. Ok, I may have gotten a little geeked up there, but I digress. Obviously, I’m not speaking of physical fighting, but instead being courageous enough to stand up for yourself and be heard and demand respect! Fight or Flight- and when pushed in a corner- I for one will always eventually CHOOSE TO FIGHT! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

Speaking Frankly,

Janay Durand Frank