NOT Good Words!


 


Had a great morning walk. Beautiful day! 


When I got home I took a look at my phone and see I had a few emails from PeaceWalker members.

One read:

"You hurt my feelings with this email…NOT Good word. 
J"

It was in reply to the email I sent a few days ago called, 

"Everyone's Welcome Around the Fire."

Which speaks to everyone being welcome in my circle, as long as you aren't being a jerk. I'll take you as you are even if we don't see things the same. We can have differences, even bust each other's chops about things. We aren't politically correct, rather we try to be respectful, even and especially when we don't see eye to eye. But, there is also a fair amount of 'chop bustin'. Yes, life can be serious, but we have to stay light hearted and not take ourselves too seriously. We're all in this together. 


Not Knowing...

I know, I know, I can be dense, but not knowing how he meant what he sent, I replied with this:

"And how did this hurt your feelings?"

Thick as a Brick!

You probably already caught on that he was kidding, but our community has literally thousands of people and not everyone always gets me, if you know what I mean!? I've had to deal with my fair share of 'Karen's'!  

So, it wasn't until I read his email on my computer, where his message was properly formatted that it was clearer that he was in fact joking. 

You hurt my feelings with this email…NOT

Good word.

=) 

His email looked very different on my computer (making it harder to read his statements intention). The formatting was substantially different. 


My phone squished 'NOT good word' all together on one line and the smiley face emoji didn't show up... 

So, it wasn't clear if he was joking or not. 

When I checked it on my computer, the formatting was how he meant it w/correct spacing and the smiley face emoji making it clearer that he was in fact joking, playing on my 'bustin' each other's chops theme!



His Reply Was Spot ON!

No, I was kidding. Truly, the Political Correctness has done damage to the ability of our society to speak frankly at times and in complete joking at times. It has given license to sensitivity extremism and, I believe, prepared a 25-year path for the havoc of wokeness.

The Jewish concept of ‘pilpul’ is to argue out deep concepts with heated debate – then sit down to coffee together and fellowship. We’ve lost this ability in Western culture, in many ways. It seems, in the public forum, liberal Democrats can drop the accusation of racist with barely a flinch – can compare their political opponents to Hitler for the slightest disagreement. This creates character assassination, thanks to media exploitation.

What happened to a balance of vibrant debate AND then having a drink with someone – ALL in the public eye? [doesn’t fit the agendas, sadly.

I couldn't have said it better that that.

Just Goes to Show...

This is a good example of how things can quickly get twisted around. Especially online!


Assumptions are made and if someone's looking on the dark side, "whoop, there it is!"  

When we look for things to divide us, we're only a word, a gesture, a belief or action away. 

We often have to dig deeper to see the intent behind beliefs, words and deeds. It can be difficult seeing the good in people. Of course, recognize our differences, but see how we are even more alike.  Yep, sometimes people do have ill intent, and need to be dealt with, but don't go straight down the dark path to soon or fast. Start out by giving people the benefit of the doubt first. Do it safely, be confident that you can take care of business if you must, but try not make enemies.  

This is the PeaceWalker Way.

Speaking of PeaceWalkers and being around a fire... 

If you'd like to get the Blueprint of how to protect yourself better, manage conflict more easily and become a more confident leader than you might be interested in my free home study course...




In the meantime...


Keep going,
~Craig

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