Lately there have been a rash of blogs about how people behave towards each other. Some is accused of something, another feels attacked, and someone thinks it's all a game. Maybe they're right, maybe they have some responsibility in what happened to them. That's not for me to say.
What I have observed is that along with the freedom to express yourself anonymously, come the responsibility to weigh your words carefully. Yes, you can and may say ANYTHING you want here without too much if any backlash in RL. That's what this forum was designed to provide.
What some people fail to realize is that when you do take advantage of that freedom to spew thoughts and words out there, someone else is also equally as free to interpret them and respond to them with equal abandon. Quite frankly I find it repugnant to see this happen, it's ugly and I've been guilty on occaision of both sides of the equation.
Maybe such freedom isn't really free. Maybe these hurt feelings and miscommunications are the price of saying whatever is on your mind. Maybe if you really have to say these things without weighing the impact that they have on others you must pay the price of being confronted or spoken to with no regard to your own feelings.
Some of you might find this hard to believe, but I really do weigh my words, both in my blogs and in my comments. I take a minute to consider how they are received by others. Sometimes I misjudge that response, and sometimes I react too quickly to hurtful words, but I do at least make the attempt to temper my words. To make sure my motive for sharing them is not to stir up negative reactions but to possibly benefit those who read them.
To paraphrase a quote that I can't seem to find to share with you, "may my words be tender, for I may have to eat them later".
I'd like to suggest that we take an extra minute moving forward to consider how our words will affect the person(s) reading them. Is this person ready to hear this? Can they appreciate what I'm trying to share? Is this offensive to them? What is my motivation in saying this? It's not about having the right to say them, but about how they may be received. Perhaps restraint and reserve would be better tools than insistance and rights.
To those I have offended with my words, please accept my apology.
