Blurbs, Follow-up, Part 1

I think it's time to explain my feelings about the various passages that caught my attention in the entry below.

First, was the quote about not hurting people.

I've been guilty of hurting people. Of course I have. We all have. I've tried not to hurt people. I've never tried to hurt someone deliberately. But sometimes, hurt happens. Others I know have been guilty as well.

A lot of this hurt comes through selfishness:

• "I know if I don't call when I work late it will hurt him, but I really don't want to call. Why should I?"

A little comes through anger:

• "How could you do that to me!? I really want my things back and I don't want to be your friend," (hugely regretted later).

On rare occasions some comes through vindictiveness:

• "I'm not going to give this person his things back because I hate him and I want him to suffer."

But by far, most of the hurt that happens is caused by indifference.

Quite plainly, if you don't care whether you hurt someone or not, no matter how much you make sure you don't deliberately hurt them, you are still going to hurt them. And it's your fault.

It's like driving. You can't drive down the street recklessly, hit someone, and then say, "I didn't mean to hit you!". You were careless. You were reckless. And you hurt someone. Whether you meant to hurt someone or not doesn't matter. The reason you are at fault in the above hypothetical situation is that you didn't take reasonable measures not to hurt them.

Taking measures to not hurt someone is called consideration. And we all need a good dose of it, myself included.

Now... if you've hurt someone, even if you didn't intend to, perhaps it's time to say sorry...

I've said sorry for the things I've done recently, and I've meant it.

Those are the thoughts that that passage sparked in me.