On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 11:29 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 11:17 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 10:50 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 8:44 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> A chickshit lies to make other people feel better. A chickenshit lies >>>> in the hope other people will like him. I may be a bastard. I may be >>>> an asshole. But I am not a chickenshit. >>> >>> I'm sorry I called you a chickenshit. >> >> Thanks. That makes me feel better. > > Which is why I was sarcastic in writing it. But what if you were a > different sort of person, who really was offended by having someone > use a course word like "shit" to refer to you.
Then that would be sad for me. > Lets say I really had > no intention on offending you, and was just having what I thought was > a little harmless listserv fun, and then found out that I had actually > caused you some pain. What kind of cold-hearted bastard would be > unwilling to apologize? This kind. You see, in the above example, I did not cause anyone pain. They experienced pain manufactured entirely from within. If I, as the speaker, hadn't said those words, somebody else would have come along and set off the trigger inside the listener (or something inside the listener would have triggered it). The pain was self inflicted. Words only have the power the listener/reader gives them. > Oh wait, I know, the kind who thinks lines like these aren't funny: > "She needs to lose thirty pounds or gain sixty. Anything in between > has no place on television" (sorry to any 140 pound women who are > offended by that). I didn't get the reference, so I Googled it and discovered it was something Alec Baldwin said. Nice callback to the original subject of this thread. Since my words tend to be more caustic (rude), allow me to quote the late Randy Pausch on the subject of apologies: "Apologies are not pass/fail. I always told my students: When giving an apology, any performance lower than A doesn't really cut it. "Halfhearted or insincere apologies are often worse than not apologizing at all becuse recipients find them insulting. If you've done something wrong in your dealings with another person, it's as if there's an infection in your relationship. A good apology is like an antibiotic; a bad apology is like salt in an open wound... "...classic bad apologies: "1) 'I'm sorry you feel hurt by what I've done.' (This is an attempt at an emotional salve, but it's obvious you don't want to put any medicine on the wound.)" And that is why Randy was loved and respected by his students, whereas I am merely respcted... he said it better. I'd have posted this sooner, but I keep my copy of "The Last Lecture" at school. It is referenced in my classroom almost as often as the Bible. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
