No Offense

I had a friend in elementary school who would almost always precede her sentences that contained opinions with "no offense." Being in elementary school at the time, I just took it as some sort of catchphrase. I didn't even know what "to offend" meant until the conclusion of middle school, when I started to actually think about my actions. I was a late bloomer.

What does it mean to offend someone? To offend is to displease, to wound, and many times, to anger. We get angry because we care, because we care about what has happened and it has hurt us. Is that anger adaptive or maladaptive? What is the point of being angry, of being offended? Has someone criticized us and we are therefore defending ourselves, our self-esteem? Are we defending someone else? What are others' motivations for doing and saying the things that hurt us?

Is a comment made about something or someone always a critique, a criticism, or could it possibly just be a comment and the way we take it dictates how it makes us feel? Is it possible to turn a criticism into a compliment just by changing the way you yourself view that criticism? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I suppose everything has its good and bad. If you view everything positively, you'll never see the negative sides of things. If you see everything negatively, you're forcing your self-esteem down. I think it takes someone with real savvy to be able to understand every subtle cue given to them. You're savvy, Jack Sparrow!

There were a lot of girls wearing platform heels at commencement.
Criticism, compliment, or comment?