Have always stuck up for myself, others & especially animals.

I learned to stick up for myself because no one around me was capable (as in my parents). First job in college the business owner tried to cheat me out of money he agreed to pay for the work I did & I had the work in my hands, turned to leave. If he didnt pay what he agreed I was darned if he was going to get what I worked on. I immediately got the agreed on price. Went home & told my mom. She was shocked I had nerve to do that. She was sure they mixed up babies in the hospital when they brought me home as a baby. Lol...little did she know how hard I worked to be nothing like them.

Negotiated wages for myself through college days even in my career.....mostly by seeing both sides & negotiating.

Given that I had learned to stick up for myself I always look at every situation I run across. Depending on the person, I dont want them to become dependent on someone else always doing their sticking up for themselves or they will NEVER learn. Though while I may not defend them directly that doesnt mean that I wont call out the person or people who are picking on someone behind the scenes & in a diplomatic way to try & let them see how unkind their behavior is toward that person.

I ended up in the middle of a confrontation where both behaviors were wrong & in my best mediation form pointed this out to both. However the next week the one lady that was the one that had been being picked on for way too long was the one who apologized while the other lady just stood there saying over & over that she had "never been treated like that before". At that point I had it with her & just said, "well its about time someone did because your behavior is unacceptable."

Most times I seriously try to make each side see what is going wrong to cause the situstion because both sides usually (not always) play a part in what is happening. Thats why I want to see the big picture. Usually the person being picked on needs to do something different that can possibly stop it from happening while the picking on side needs to learn to be more sensitive. So IF i do get involved because I see it as necessary I use it as a teaching experience for ALL involved.