Question: why do I let mean, small, manipulative, insecure women get me down? I looked so forward to growing up--getting out of high school, going to college, expanding my horizons, having a career, but mostly, just growing up and all that means: leaving behind the pettiness, the strategically placed comments meant to hurt and undermine the person on the receiving end. Alas, this behavior, perpetrated in my high school by mean, small, manipulative insecure girls, does not seem to have happened only in high school. Such girls grow up to be such women. And too bad for the rest of us who have to deal with their bad behavior. Too bad someone in high school didn't set them straight. Too bad. I need a strategy that will sustain me through having to deal with such women throughout my life--I realize that now. I must find a way to guard my heart and secure my own soul against the attacks launched by such women. And I should pray for all of my friends for this same protection. The worst offenders are those who mask themselves as friends and then--voila--they become another creature right before our eyes. In the twinkling of an eye, they transform themselves into the all-too-familiar Bitch we've all be warned of by our mothers and our friends. By the time they have snuggled up to you as a so-called friend, you have, unfortunately, opened up your heart in acceptance and trust, only to have that trust trampled on. I don't want to stop trusting; I just want to prevent further hurt--as my husband says, "Buck up!" The Bitch is just an insecure woman who wants to feel big and important by putting someone else down. And often is jealous of other womens' accomplishments. So, instead of anger, it is pity I should feel. And I should feel lucky to have escaped this same fate myself. Whew!