>>...that kept me 200 feet away from my home...<<
200 feet?! You don’t even need a scope for that distance!
;)
Not to make too much light of it though. I actually understand. It seems that a lot of the time, the wrong party is the one that knows how to use the courts.
I had a friend once, who shortly after getting divorce papers from his wife, his wife got REALLY agitated one day and got downright violent. He kept his cool and she finally admited, through tears, that her attorney had told her that if she could get him to hit her, resulting in a 911 call, it would really help her in court.
Interestingly, a week before I was served papers (back in 1997) my then wife did the same thing and pushed me so hard that she fell backwards. It was weird. She got violently angry out of nowhere and for nothing. I learned she had been at the end of her process to get the papers served shortly after that and it was an attempt to do the same thing.
The problem my wife had was twofold:
1. I remembered what happened to my friend.
2. My argument style is to become Mr. Spock. The more animated the other side gets, the more “apparently” calm I get. If I DO eventually lash out it is not to hurt. It is to kill. It would be solely for self defense. It aint gonna happen with a woman unless she is threatening with some sort of weapon that could actually maim or kill.
interesting point you make. It reminds me of a relationship seminar my husband and I recently attended in which they said according to recent research that 'stonewalling' (which men typically do and get in trouble for--by their usually more animated wife in an argument or discussion-- is found to be a self calming action. So basically many men 'stonewall' to calm themselves during a fight. This was helpful to understand as it usually annoys me when someone retreats or sits calmly while I 'animate' LOL.
But I have more empathy realizing it is not a power play or an act of disrespect. Often it is just someone trying to get calm or remain calm in a conflictual situation.