"insulted & not listening"
July 30, 2001, 10:18 p.m.

One thing I've noticed is that people get so very offended so very easily.

It's not funny, but it is funny.

I'm the same way, but I usually let it go or I communicate something about it.

I don't get mad right away. I usually get mad later if I've been personally insulted.

Life is too short to be indignant all the time.

Yet, I find my anger is set off quicker if I am frustrated rather than insulted. The more frustrated I am, the angier I get. (Case in point - my Netscape rampages).

By the same token. If someone I love is insulted, I become furious.

I notice too on the internet that folks tend to fly off the handle really quickly.

When I am on a message board with them and someone gently disagrees with someone else, the offended party says they're going to quit coming back to that board if that's how its going to be. Then the rest of the folks start saying - "Oh please don't go." It's a sign of maturity to stay in the conversation. Even the difficult ones.

There's a scene in the film "Before Sunrise" where Julia Delpy's character speaks to Ethan Hawke's character:

"I really believe that if there's any kind of God, he wouldn't be in any one of us---not you, not me, but just in the space in between. If there's some magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone else, sharing something. Even if it's almost impossible to succeed, but who cares, the answer must be in the attempt."

I love that line. And I think if God is "just in the space in between", then when someone refuses to communicate or understand - simply because they think they are "right" - then perhaps God has been shut out of that space. Not by God's choice, but by our choice when we fail to listen. When we fail to try to understand.

I see it all the time. I see it across the world. There are people willing to give up their lives because they believe they are right about something and they refuse to understand - they refuse to share.

Look how wars get started. Someone stops understanding and sharing.

All I know is, something powerful happens when I choose to become offended.

The harder, more difficult thing is to make sure I understand. Make sure I'm still sharing without whining and complaining.

For me, that's really hard, because if I'm emotionally involved, I really want to hold onto it and savor it for all its worth.

So I suppose it's not all that funny...being offended. I just hope I'm big enough not to hold onto it for too long.

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On a lighter note...Here's what I have on my desktop. It's a photo I took of the lovely and beautiful downtown Peacock, Texas.

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