A game of pool

I have this analogy about life, which actually came to me in a dream one time. I repeat it to myself from time to time. Today, I'm posting it outloud in hopes that these vibes will somehow make it to some people who I think need to hear it.

Life is like a game of pool. No matter how much you want to, you can't change the position or placement of the colored balls (other people). You are the white ball, you can only change your own angle of looking at things.

Today I feel like a fish out of water. I feel like I'm living in just a wacky weird world and I no longer know how to function or communicate with people - it is just too weird. (And I am not even just talking about people from Latvia today.) I'm not going to say the details (though it would feel really good for me to purge them yet again, I must respect some privacy here), but I will just say that I have had four solid encounters today with situations where I feel that people are totally trying to change me to be/act/say/do just that which they need of me in shockingly forceful or manipulative ways, and I do not even know what to say back. A fish out of water.

My first question is: am I really such a bad person? No, of course, I know the answer is no, but geez....

My next question is: when did we all make the decision to stop accepting people for who they are and try to change the rules of the game of pool?

I am who I am (most days I feel pretty damn good about this, too), so take me or leave me, but don't try to move me around to suit your needs! So there....