I Choose Not to be Offended

Today, I had the opprotunity to spend some time with an elderly gentleman who is in failing health. He was a successful businessman and it seems most times I hang out with him, I get a few more pearls of wisdom. It doesn’t hurt that this is my girlfriend’s stepdad and I want to get to know him while I have a chance!
Tonight, he made a comment I thought was utterly profound. He said one of the philosophies he lives by is simply, “I choose not to be offended.”
In today’s world, it sometimes feels like everyone is trying to be offfended. Seriously, don’t you know people who are constantly looking for the tiniest “flaw” in, well, just about anything? Then that flaw is exposed as something that stings their very soul. Foolish.
These days, any comment about the nationality or race of another person will get you lumped in with David Duke and the Klan. Any statement about politics will get you dubbed a money-grubbing Republican fundamentalist or a left wing lib whack job. Any comment about religion will soon have you in the company of either snake handlers or ACLU lawyers. Again…by people who are trying to be offfended. And, we should all take a lesson from Bud’s wisdom-choose not to be offended.