Here's the point.
 From an ideological standpoint, I have always considered myself a pacifist, for lack of a better word.  My whole life I think I have forgiven people a lot in the way of rudeness, offensiveness, exploitation etc etc.  This is also coupled with the fact that as a child I was never taught to stand up for myself.  In fact I shyed away from confrontation because there was so much of it in my house growing up.
Today, however, I watched this couple and thier dogs casually make thier way down the beach.  The further they got, the madder I got.  I felt my heart start to pound and my teeth were gritting together, and something inside of me said "No. Not this time. I'm saying something.".  I made my way down the beach with a strong stride.  My husband called out to me, knowing what I was going to do.  I didn't listen, I just trucked down the beach to catch up with the couple. When I got within earshot, I called to them "Excuse me!".  They turned around.  I then proceeded to sternly tell them that thier dog needs to be socialized with children before they let him off his leash at a family beach.  I then told them that thier dog didn't break my child's skin, but it frightened her and they need to be aware of thier animals tendencies.  They apologized.
 Afterward, I felt like a real mother.  This sort of thing is completely out of charecter for me, but when it came to sticking up for my daughter, my hackles had no problem ruffling up.  No matter what my past hang-up's were, no matter what boundaries I had put on myself, once again motherhood proves that I could dig deeper, try harder and ultimatly change who I am just to be better for my children.  Just to turn the wheel around for them, and teach them how I wish I had been taught.