Is It Me Or You?

i get really agitated at my friends sometimes. i try not to judge, because we've all been in the opposite chair before, but now...

i find myself getting further and further disgusted by my friends who continuously go back to one guy that they shouldn't be with and that they know they shouldn't be with. do we as women really have that little respect in ourselves? i'm the first to admit that i picked the wrong guy for the right reasons more than once, but i'm not the person going back over and over and over... i played the same games my friends are playing with their exes, but i finished a hell of a lot faster and seemingly learned more.

am i mad at them or myself? them for being retarded, or me for having previously made those same mistakes? at them because they put on a great front that they're stronger, they're self sufficient, independent, need no man, only come to find out that was a great facade and they all go crawling back? or am i afraid that maybe, just maybe, i'm the same way?

i just can't morally, consciously, logically support settling, for or from anybody. and this bothers me, it really does. to have to think of settling is unsettling. where did we learn it's ok to get treated like absolute dirt with no respect, as long as "deep down" there's something there that looks like love?

we can't possibly be that dumb.

i've gone on some great dates lately. i know what i'm looking for, i know what i'm not looking for, and i'm having fun in the meantime. so why is the irrational behavior of my friends getting under my skin? i guess i'm just sick of hearing about it. the same it, everytime. different people, same situations; just one big hypocritical mess.