Wednesday; October 23

Through the years, I have been around some rather intense situations where tempers flared up.  Often, these events are so horrific that all that is left are bare emotions.  Interestingly, as I talked to people who work to resolve these situations – and are often on the receiving end of some pretty terse comments – their reflections are usually quite empathetic.  No, they didn’t necessarily like what was said to them or about them, but they understand where it comes from.  A common response from the people who are berated is acceptance and the remark, “I can’t imagine going through what they were going through.”. 

As I thought about this I got to wondering where the cutoff line is between understanding that people are having a horrible day (and, thus, ignoring what is said to us) and taking offense to what is said because we not willing to bear the brunt of someone else’s rotten day.  At what point do we allow comments to slide off of us like the proverbial duck and when are we justified being offended because someone said something unkind or unthinking to us?  I don’t have a concrete answer to this, but it is worth considering the point at which we choose to hold people accountable for their emotions and their words.  

I guess my point is this … is someone getting under your skin because of their attitudes or comments?  If so, why are they doing it?  Are they just bad people; are they just in a bad mood or is it because they are they going through bad times?

Think About It!

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