No Offense

I was listening to a radio show yesterday when one of the people participating in the show said that he was so offended by something somebody had said. I wanted to start screaming! It seems like so many people are so quick to take offense these days...why do they do that to themselves? Political correctness is out of control. I usually just try to ignore it, but it's really been bugging me since I heard the guy on the radio. I think I mainly just feel bad for people who are so quick to take offense. How sad their lives must be that they have to let the actions of others affect them so much.

Elder Bednar gave a talk back in the October 2006 General Conference Broadcast that was so unforgettable that I think about it every time I hear somebody saying that they are offended. He talked about people who have gone inactive because somebody at church did or said something that offended them. He had some great advise for those people which can be found here in the whole talk. But I wanted to quote what he said a little later in his talk;

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

"In the grand division of all of God's creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."

I can't say it more perfectly that than. I'm not saying I'm perfect and have never been offended. When I first moved out of Utah I couldn't believe what people would say about Utah and Mormons! I was quick to take offense. But pretty soon I learned that most people were joking...and if they weren't, so what? I can't change somebodies opinion of me, so why let it bother me? I know who I am...that's the most important thing. People need to have a little more sense of humor and stop taking everything so personally. What a happier world we would live in!

Thank you for letting me rant, I feel better! I hope I haven't offended any of you, none was meant. I'll get off my soap box now!