An antiquated view on life?

I am going to go with 'yes' due to recent experiences.


Let's just say I had a humdinger of a week with people interaction.  

I am losing my faith in human nature.


I was taught to follow the 'golden rule,' i.e., "treat others as you would like to be treated."


My question is:  when does that end? 

Do you perpetually get squashed and hope that the person turns around, or do you change your mentality and just say screw it?


I don't want to be unfair to others-- and unless they give me a big reason to be a certain way, I often sit and stew, eventually get over it, and try to move on. 

Lately, though, I am having a very hard time with the moving on part of life.  Namely because the interaction usually is directed at my husband or son.


Of the three instances, one interaction involved a person that is 'supposed' to be very close to me; I've given up on this person and do not even want to try to salvage a relationship.  (It is this person's terms  or nothing, and if they don't get their way, they pout in excess.  [Note, it is not a child!]) 

Second was a fellow mother, and third was an individual I thought was a friend, but I now realize I am just convenient for their utilization.


All in all, that sums up my week, and kind of sums up my life right now-- you can understand why I am depressed with people and life. 


I try real hard to be amiable, but my view on human nature is slowly deteriorating into oblivion.


Maybe I've let other people, for too long, determine how I was going to live my life.  Maybe it's time to put Voltaire's idea to work.  Maybe he was correct when he said that "each player must accept the cards life deals him or her, but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."


I never wanted to work with the cards, I just wanted to live by the golden rule, treating others the way I wanted to be treated; however, it seems Voltaire was correct.  When people treat me badly, and I just accept and internalize it, but I do nothing but complain to my poor husband.  I need to do something to improve the future of my interactions with them; when I do nothing I am feeding a future of increased negative interactions. 


In essence, I guess what I have to learn to do is to adapt and adjust to each hand, each day, and interaction, correspondingly.  It's going to take work, but it seems like everything in life is work.  If I don't stand up for me, my husband will, but what will that accomplish in the moment, right?