I've got the powah.

Is there anyone else who thinks that the whole "assert yourself" thing is getting really old? I know that there is a lot of validity to it, but I think there comes a point where you have to wonder why you have to assert yourself so often in the first place. Every other moment of your waking life shouldn't have to be some battle of wills. You should be able to feel comfortable around people to the point where you can just simply state something that's on your mind or express your wishes, and at least have your feelings considered without people automatically seizing on the tiniest opportunity to throw their weight around.
I'm really not an assertive person, as you can tell. That's usually considered a bad thing...but is it really? So many people lean the other way, to the point where even someone stating their wishes or some random person walking too slowly in front of them is an obstacle to be shoved (sometimes literally) out of the way.
Just a thought that's been on my mind, particularly because I've been having debates over this subject with a lot of people lately. I guess my view of human nature is just a lot different than other people's. I remember writing a paper for Intro to Peace and Conflict Resolution where I tried to argue that power and empowerment don't always have to necessarily be defined as a zero-sum game, where it's a finite resource that is always defined in terms of power over other people.
And how ironic that I'm typing this at the expense of my own self-empowerment, because I really should be typing a paper that was due an hour ago! Tee hee.