Be Intrigued, Not Offended

There are a handful of things that I really hate in life. One of them is the sound of chickadees squawking in the morning (especially when I am trying to fall asleep after a late night). They have always sounded like a rusty seesaw going back and forth. And there is rarely just one. It is a legion of rusty seesaws with no voices accompanying them. It's like a kiddie park filled with ghosts.

I had a conversation once which ended up talking about birdsong. So I mentioned that I like a lot of different songs and I think it's cool how they are all different, but I absolutely hate chickadees. The person I said this to was quite offended by that. She simply loved chickadees. This is a perfect example of why I don't tell people how I feel.

When I talk with people, I always feel like I'm on eggshells until I know how they feel about a subject. I don't mind it though. I'm a cautious guy in general. What truly surprises more is that people can be offended by somebody who has a different opinion. Sure, it can be surprising. It may even blow your mind. But why should it offend you?

I think it's pretty useless to get offended in general. It's especially useless to get offended if you're a writer. Writer's need to learn as much as they can. If you find somebody who steadfastly disagrees with something you believe, you should be intrigued, not offended. You should want to know how it's possible, what the rationale is, what validity there is in this extremely different viewpoint.

If you only get offended by people whose thoughts are not yours, you will end up being a very limited writer.