Great Expectations part II

In a recent post I outlined what I perceive to be society's expectations of me and in general.  I didn't touch on everything because, well, there's a lot to touch on.
I don't consider myself someone who conforms to the expectations of society, so following is what I expect of myself:

I should be happy, and grateful, for all of the things in my life.  Things like running water, a grocery store, transportation, electricity, the people in my life who love me, and the people in my life who don't.
I should be grateful to God, and I should tell Him so daily.
I do not yet fill this expectation.  But I am working hard to do so.

I should be honest.  At all times.

I expect myself to be kind to everyone, regardless.  Sometimes (rarely) I can't manage to pull this one off.  This is usually when you've done so many things to me that I can't look at you without registering some form of pain, be it anger or sadness.  I'm always deeply disappointed with myself when I can't find it in me to be kind; no one should be treated poorly.
That being said, I am never malicious.  Period.
 If I can't be kind I should be cordial, treating someone as if they were a customer at work.  Failing that, I should just keep quiet.  I generally lean toward the latter: it's difficult for me to just turn on the outgoing me that I am at work.  Sometimes I even have to psyche myself up to get going when I'm working.

I expect myself to be strong when faced with adversity.
Sometimes I'm not, but I'm human.  No one can fault me for crying once in a while.

I hold myself to high standards because I feel it's right to treat others the way you would like to be treated.  If you mislike someone, the best way of dealing with it is not gossip, or treating them poorly.  The best way to deal with it is to be charitable, even if they cannot return the favor.  Don't get me wrong, this is anything but easy.  In fact, it is extremely difficult.
Having very recently experienced a situation in which I was being treated unkindly I can attest to the fact that it is difficult to be kind in return.  To be kind to someone who is being malicious you first have to distance yourself emotionally (which, for me, is hard to achieve sometimes).  Once you have distanced yourself it's much easier to react in a charitable fashion.
I can't say I succeeded in distancing myself, and I certainly was not the kindest I've ever been to this person.  I failed in my expectation to be strong in the face of adversity, but I never was malicious, or anything less than the best I could be given the circumstances.

I always expect myself to do the best I can in any given situation.


How do I measure up against society?
Well, sex is not an important part of my life, so I've failed to follow the 'social norm' already.  I do conform to the older expectations of housekeeping and child-rearing.

Otherwise, I couldn't say how my above list of expectations measures up except that it's considered normal to exact revenge when you're wronged.  I disagree with revenge as a principle in regards to trivial things.  It's childish to give someone the silent treatment in response to some wrong they've done you (to me this qualifies as small revenge).  Revenge is looking at someone and saying, "fine, if you're going to do that, I'm going to do something even worse to you!"  It's not okay.

I don't believe in divorce, society seems to love it whenever there's a scandal and it's considered normal to divorce someone.

Marriage:
The old ball and chain.  You know what I have to say to that?  Bull shit.
You just wait a couple years, you'll be tired of each other.  Shenanigans.
You're a breeder?  Don't you know the world is overpopulated.  It's selfish to have children! Propoganda.
Why not use birth control?  Not touching this one right now.
Marriage takes the love out of your relationship. *cough*you'redoingitwrong*cough*
You should have sex before marriage, you wouldn't buy a car without test driving it!  Is sex everything? No.
You're getting married too soon!  Lets try "not soon enough."

Marriage has such a negative connotation.  It's really sad.