Interpersonal Conflicts

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate October 2001

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Interpersonal conflicts Personal conflicts are simply a part of life. These conflicts help to build personal character and assist in the development of a person. They also define a person's beliefs and how adamant they are about them.

As a middle school student, I had a close-knit group of friends. We met an individual who others called a "loner"� and quickly welcomed him to our group. He was always picked on because of his physical appearance, but we saw past that from the beginning. At least that's what we thought.

The years progressed, and the same tight-knit group existed. This individual that we welcomed, however, became a burden to the entire group. He began throwing away his morals and logic to be accepted in high school, often at the expense of others. Personally, I disapproved of his actions, but failed to take action myself. I didn't feel it was my place to make him conform to my own beliefs.

Suggestions were as close as I came to controlling him.

Finally, in the summer of my sophomore year, I had had enough. My feelings were shared by the entire group. Taking the initiative, I approached this individual in a firm, yet non-threatening manner. I explained to him the feelings of the group and gave him an ultimatum. He could either shape up or ship out. He chose to ship out.

From then on he grew increasingly bitter toward me and the rest of my friends. He took any opportunity he could to somehow disrupt our group. He reeked of jealously and anger, but my friends and I were too close to be affected. Later, we found out most of his stories were lies, and he had stuck around simply because we could help him fit in a little bit better.

I now know that what we did was the right thing, though I do wish we had done it earlier. This one individual hindered the perception of the entire group and, in fact, caused many irreversible problems while being a "friend."� To this day, this same person is trying to disrupt my same circle of friends from his apartment somewhere on the west coast. He has, to some extent, succeeded. I have learned that age and location does not delegate maturity.