The Showdown

Dear Friends,
This morning, I realized what keeps me awake at night, tossing and turning, is not what I eat before going to bed, or at what time I turn off the lights. What disturbs my sleep, whether in the form of a dream, a cramp or a stubborn itch, is the first thought that pops into my head at the following twilight. 
In the olden days, the nature of the 'first thought' was variable, sometimes exciting, sometimes unsettling, sometimes as mundane as ' I have to pick up the dry cleaning, today.'
However, since Bill 115, the intruders are the same old, same old! Many believe I've become obsessed, repetitive, somewhat tedious. True, this is one news that will never get old for me, unless it disappears.

As the showdown between the government of Ontario and the Unions begins, all teachers might have to cut voluntary activities. However, it's not as simple as it sounds.
Strike is straightforward - you are either on it or not. Work to rule remains many shades of grey. So many scenarios, combinations, interpretations and what ifs! It reminds me of the time I was dating a 'difficult man'. I didn't have the heart to cut all ties, at least for a week or two to teach him a lesson, so in my pathetic attempt to play hard to get, I stipulated my own stipulations! 'I'll go out for drinks, not dinner. I'll pick up the phone on the fourth ring, not the first. I'll be busy on Saturday, but not on Friday. I won't cook, but will order in.'
As the clever man detected my weakness, he became even more uncompromising!
At the end, I lost both, the man and my self-respect. 

Timid, lukewarm efforts to make a point, will not bring it home. Maybe, neither does the passionate, persistent resoluteness, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, twenty years from now I'll be happier for having tried the latter - accepted and filed!
What have you accepted and filed, today?