Land of the free, home of the offended?!?

Offend…offended…offensive…have you noticed just how often you here these words these days?  Just yesterday I saw a Facebook post that said “if this flag comes down because you’re offended... then pull these up, because it offends me ”.  First of all, the notion that saggy pants are even remotely equivalent to a symbol that represents a “heritage whose reason for existence was the exploitation and debasement of a sizeable segment of its population^1” is offensive in and of itself (see what I did there…).  Second, I’ll bet there are some people who will be offended by my use of the word butt (and those people I say get a life…a better life…where you actually try to do some good in this world).  And third, if you’re stuck on being offended by something that is offending others, then you have to ask yourself if you’re really offended at the action or just your inability to reason and mature over time. 

I mean, come on…if you’re going to get offended  by something to the point that you feel the need to make a call to action, make it be about something good.  Be offended that millions of babies are killed each year in the name of women’s rights.  Or that those “in charge” in Washington are and have been overstepping their boundaries for years.  And we continue to allow it.

And I have an even better idea; don’t even get offended at all.  Far too often we think of only ourselves instead of others.  Doesn’t the bible say in Galatians 5:13-14:”Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  If we all took that to heart, then perhaps we would start to listen to each other, see the good in everyone, and maybe even start to all get along.  Heck, maybe we might even start to apologize for offending someone simply because they are our friend.

Just yesterday I heard one of my kids say they did something wrong because their brother and sister were doing it.  What if…and I know this is a stretch…what if we did something good simply because we saw others doing it?  Why do we continue to make excuses for ourselves and blame it on others?  It starts here.  It starts now.  And it starts with me.

Credits:

¹Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote circa 2011