Think About It

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 justifi