Interpersonal Communication Week five journal Essay

Interpersonal Communication Week five journal - Essay Example My experience with verbal aggressiveness was really unpleasant since this involved a close relationship with a long-time friend. This friend is actually a good person but he has a way of saying things that could be considered sarcastic. The thing is that he agrees with me on most topics (that is why we are friends) but he has a negative demeanor towards other people. For example, whenever we order at a diner and the waitress commits a little mistake, he calls them â€Å"stupid† and says other nasty remarks which I could consider demeaning. I am embarrassed by such manifestations of verbal aggressiveness since I always try to put myself in other people’s shoes. One time I broke news to him about the misfortune of another friend and all he said was that â€Å" he got what he deserves†. He goes on rationalizing that life is what we make it so if it turns out bad , it is due to our poor choices. While there is a grain of truth in such statements, it would be so inappropriate to tell it to someone who is already feeling miserable. Because of this, I would react to him and I myself would experience verbal aggressiveness from him since he would criticize me for my beliefs. The readings taught us that power plays must be put to a stop so the patterns would not be repeated. The person using power play would be aware that his statements are not healthy and defeating development of interpersonal relationships. As for physical aggressiveness, I only experience it during contact sports when we have Physical Education class way back in high school. We were taught how to play basketball and that meant experiencing physical contact especially coming from the opponent. There were times that I get pushed or held back which made me upset but I never lose my patience. I had the right frame of mind and understood that this is just sports. However, it would be a different story if an opponent deliberately hit me in the face since