[Brian Pfleuger]

Well, your post is written as if this is something "we" all do. It isn't. As others have already said, there are countless billions of less than pleasant interactions across this nation and world every single day and "we" walk away.

To address the underlying issue of when SOME do not walk away, no small part of the problem comes from teaching people to have high self-esteem rather than ACCURATE, correct, reasonable, realistic self-esteem. There's a lot that could be said related to that point but it's really not on topic for this thread/board.

For our purposes here, walk away. If you can't bring yourself to walk away from voluntary encounters, seek counseling. Seriously, that's a major issue. Otherwise, walk away unless there is no reasonable option for safe retreat of all innocent parties.