Being Offended

Over the past few weeks, I've struggled a lot with some stuff - two words, actually - that's been said to me. It wasn't anything that was said out of hatred or with malicious intent. It was just another comment - a comment in passing - that caught me off guard and, to some extent, offended me. I didn't explode or anything. Knowing me, it's pretty hard to offend me. It's just been something that I've held onto for a while. It's taught me something.

For me, when I get offended by something, usually that whatever it is means a lot to me. I never realized that it meant so much to me until now - after thinking about it for a good month. Whenever I do get offended, I hope that I become more introspective and see why a certain chord was struck - not just shrugging it aside as I used to. There's nothing to gain by just shrugging it off.

Sometimes, however, it may be wise to shrug certain comments that people make off - especially if it's not exactly constructive... At the same time, it's good to learn to see things from other people's perspective and see why they said certain things they did. When the comment that I mentioned earlier offended me, I realized that I was offended because I identified with those people. I called myself one of them. However, in the process, I've also learned that maybe there are issues with this group. What started as a comment in passing has become a learning experience for me.