At times I am very grateful to my otherwise dysfunctional parents for teaching me the value of restraint, and responding to situations rather than reacting to them.

I've found myself in a few heated situations, and have usually extracted myself fairly well by playing "the third option" that's neither aggressiveness nor passiveness, and instead just tries to "break state." Of course, seldom works on those who are high or drunk...

I could go on a long diatribe about the possible roots of many of these behaviors, having grown up as an old fossil in an age that predates the whole "positive self-esteem" movement of the early 1970's...

But yes, I get your point... and thanks for the PIZZA.