Darren, I'm going to dramatically talk about my feelings now, so you can leave if you want to.
Throughout my childhood, as far back as I can remember, my mother warned me about hurtful words. Not for me was the adage that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." I was sarcastic, and, not to be boastful, I had an uncanny ability to (verbally) hit people where it would hurt. My mother had experience with hurtful words, as everyone does, and, noticing my natural meanness, preached to me all the time about thinking before I spoke, placing the proverbial filter between mind and mouth-caring about other people's feelings. As I grew older, I obviously ran into people whose mothers hadn't been so preachy, perceptive or persuasive, and I disliked them intensely. Not being nice was a cardinal sin in my book, just ahead of being judgmental.
So today, as I'm wracked with guilt because I accidentally said something mean to someone (a joke which didn't quite come across as a joke), I'm also kind of happy. Because it means that my mom succeeded in taking that mean streak out of me, and even if it has made me a little too easily guilt-stricken, I remain ever-grateful.
~Sam
Throughout my childhood, as far back as I can remember, my mother warned me about hurtful words. Not for me was the adage that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." I was sarcastic, and, not to be boastful, I had an uncanny ability to (verbally) hit people where it would hurt. My mother had experience with hurtful words, as everyone does, and, noticing my natural meanness, preached to me all the time about thinking before I spoke, placing the proverbial filter between mind and mouth-caring about other people's feelings. As I grew older, I obviously ran into people whose mothers hadn't been so preachy, perceptive or persuasive, and I disliked them intensely. Not being nice was a cardinal sin in my book, just ahead of being judgmental.
So today, as I'm wracked with guilt because I accidentally said something mean to someone (a joke which didn't quite come across as a joke), I'm also kind of happy. Because it means that my mom succeeded in taking that mean streak out of me, and even if it has made me a little too easily guilt-stricken, I remain ever-grateful.
~Sam
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