I still remember
an evening a long time ago, when I was dating a young lady who
showed up for one of our dates with a huge frown on her face.
Right away, I
started inventing explanations for her expression, and finally
decided that she'd probably found a big, rich, good-looking hunk
and she was working up the courage to dump me before the night
was out.
I immediately
started mentally rehearsing for the confrontation-to-come.
I worked out
how I'd act and even imagined some clever insults to throw back
at her, and retorts to her potential comebacks.
I stewed about
it so long, in fact, that I almost decided to beat her to the
punch by dumping her first!
Fortunately,
though, I had the good sense to ask, and found out she had heartburn
from eating Mexican food.
I could have
blown a perfectly good relationship by acting instead of asking!
Moral: Don't
do to yourself what you don't want other people to do to you.