Life Offended

Busy. It is a well used word. Many people use it carelessly. It is only because they do not wish to participate in some event; not because they are truly busy and they do not wish to offend.

I attempt to not do this. I will admit it is not always an easy thing to do. Sometimes, I just do not want to but fear offending someone. How do you say that without offending them?

I have read articles stating I should not fear offending others so much because most offense is from "political correctness." To some extent I tend to agree. Take the city of New York for an example. They are worried of offending people to the extent they have considered banning certain words from tests administered to students. They wish to avoid offending them by not using words that could give them negative thoughts of themselves.

Another example is a hyphenated nationality. Native-American, African-American, Asian-American, Chinese-American... For some reason unknown to me I am supposed to be offended being called simply and American. I refuse to be so.

Interestingly, some are offended because of my refusal to be offended. For what reason should I be offended? I worked very hard to become an American. I did not work so hard to be a Chinese-American. Should it not be left to me what I will be called?

It is my opinion that one may be an American that is of Native decent, or an American of African decent, or, as for me, an American of Chinese/Asian decent. I prefer to simply be called an American. If that idea offends you... well... that is for you to work through.

If it is your choice to live only to not offend, it is your choice. If it is your choice to find offense at every turn, that too is your choice. I choose to live. It is likely I will offend someone at some time and for that I will apologize when it is necessary. I will live with the thought that not everything is worth considering an offense. I will not be offended if you call me only an American. It is my preference. If you call me Chinese or Asian, I will not be offended. I will however correct you. ;-)

As Lt has said, I have turned down my sensitivity knob.