Choose Your Battle
In life, there are many battles, but we must be discerning to know which ones to fight and which ones to walk away.
Last week, after I drove my wife to work, on my way back, the side of my car was hit by a pedicab. From the very beginning, I hated pedicabs plying on the main road since they move against the flow of traffic, thus, risk injury to life and damage to property. And it seems the local gov’t have no plans regulating them yet. Having seen a convoy of these coming my way, I tried to avoid because I sensed trouble. True indeed, before I can totally change lane, one pedicab hit me. What the @$*$!!! I wanted to beat the man because he just don’t care. But what will I get? He can’t pay the damage, he got no insurance and he don’t mind going to jail. And whatever I do, it will not change the fact that he left a deep scratch and dent on the fender and right door of my 1 year old car. I will be inconvenient for several days when the car is under repair, plus I will pay participation fee for my insurance. In the midst of rage, I chose to just walk away ( still felt sorry for my car though 
).
At work, I received a nasty “hate” letter from an employee for his perceived mishandling of an incident report. I wanted to get back and give the person a taste of what he deserve, but I chose to ignore and look the other way.
There are more situations in life that may unleash the war lord inside us, but is it worth our energy, time and intelligence?
When I was younger (still young though 
), I fight all battles that cross my path. But after a while, I learned that a stress less life is far better for my health and family. There are unnecessary battles, but there are also wars that need to be won. One must be wise to distinguish between the two.
Fools quickly show that they are upset, but the wise ignore insults.
- Proverbs 12:16 (NCV)
13 Responses to “Choose Your Battle”
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[...] walking away from a fight is not cowardice [...]
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This is worth pondering. Although I’ve tried my best to focus on positive response as my reaction to any ‘event’ that I’ve encountered to have a good output but sometimes when emotions are high, it’s an instinct to choose a ‘fight’ battle. Patience really contributes a lot. Thanks.
I know how frustrating situations like that can be; but congrats on being the bigger man Sonnie.
This got me thinking. It really is easier to show annoyance even on simple things but you’re right – most of the times they are just waste of energy and effort. Thanks for the reminder.
This is a wake up call for me. Thanks Sonnie.
Hi Sonnie!
Don’t we all just love receiving hate mails/emails in the morning. With coffee, preferably
I have had my share of these. Even “starred” in a few hate mails/emails, that are couched in supposedly “deep concern” for the company
As they say “Don’t sweat the small stuff!”
Cause they are just that, “small stuff”
God bless!
I admire your cool since you did not lash out at those problems. I wish I could do that too but sometimes my temper just gets ahead of me. ^_^
I’m on the brink of resigning from my present company..i love the people, i love the work. I just don’t love the newly appointed department manager. i feel really unmotivated and i don’t respect her at all.
her team members tried to escalate the issue to the HR manager. a month ago, this manager was just a supervisor. everybody else in the department thought that she will never get promoted because she still has 2 pending issues. it was something about mishandling the team. her team’s shift starts at 12 noon but she comes to work at 4pm, just half the time of the shift. shift ends at 8pm. she would be seen in the office until 2am. management thinks that she’s rendering an enormous amount of unpaid OT. in fact, I would always see her in the HR’s manager’s office.
what they didn’t know is she’s coming outrageously late. all of this, according to the HR manager are written in her 201 file. (Ironically, when confronted by the rank and file employee after learning the news about the promotion, the HR manager that there wasn’t any IR fled.) great!
my only sentiment over this matter is that, if this will not prevent this person from not getting promoted, should an investigation be conducted first before promoting her? if she can’t manage a team of 15, i don’t think she can manage a team of 100.
wala lang..i just thought of sharing this. office politics really sucks.
This remind me of your HATE list. Well, the status quo urged u not to waste your time and energy with this pedicab owner and that only makes sense. I’m not sure though if letting it pass just like that or compromising with your emotions is healthy or not. He probably deserves a li’l thought of the day. A la prochaine.
*This reminded me…
Hey, Mr. Sonnie, your article reminded me of Nepomuceno’s column in The Philippine Star. I was an avid reader of it when we still have that newspaper delivered every morning. I think it’s called Beautiful Life.
hi!
i know this was already posted or perhaps similar to other articles i had read .n’way, i for one need to be reminded most of the time – patience.. and avoid brooding on matters that wont do me any good – these are the rules that have to be sticked on my face. c”,)
great article to ponder, mr.sonnie!
Hi.I have been away travelling on a church mission that took a week but glad to be back.Sorry to hear that.Thanks to God for enabling you to remain calm in all these situations and to let it go hoping that you also forgave the offenders.This senario takes us back to our christian faith for those of us who are believers.We must live what we preach,right where we are.We must live by example.We are the salt of the word.
God bless you mightily.
Margaret.
Hi, I think the important question to ask is Why? Why did it happen?
On Christmas Eve after finally getting a little bit of mone so that I could give my family some presents, I went to the mall in Sta Lucia. (Philippines) After spending a long day trying to get the best buy for the buck, I tied the gifts on the back of my motorcycle and headed home.
As I was going through Ampid, I felt a tugging on my bike. I looked in the mirror and what I thought to be another bike that got hooked into mine, was actually a young guy who was trying to pull the presents off my bike as I rode down the street.
It was all so surreal but I quickly stopped the bike and frantically tried to put it in neutral and try to put the kickstand down. I was so confused about all this that I was getting nowhere fast. Meanwhile, the guy is about ten feet from me staring at me.
Something told me not to chase him and just go home. He was not able to get anything.
Why?
Satan wants to take the gifts that God has given us and steal them. but if we have them secure, by staying in His word and obeying Him, the devil will not have the power to rip them off although he may try very hard.
Why? Because now I can relate the story to others and I can praise God for His protection and I can be convinced again of the blessings that come with serving Him.
Your car was scratched but you weren’t hurt, you ate that night and slept in your bed and if your wife needed an operation you would sell that car at a fraction of it’s cost just to pay for the hospital.
You did well. Keep on going there is much more to come!
God Bless.