The interaction between human beings is the most delicate and tricky balancing act that you can ever do because human beings are not like other animals. We have buried our primal instincts to an extent and replaced them with complex thought processes that often are 3demensional, and contradictory with one another. The way humans think is as numerous as the stars in the sky. We all come from some "Place" that our thinking originates from, and those places dictate our behavior, what we perceive as good and bad, and what we perceive as joyous, or unnerving. A constant important lesson to learn and relearn form time to time is that not everyone thinks like you. What may be small and inconsequential to you, may be enormous and upsetting to others. It all stems from that "Place" of where we are coming from, that evolved into where we are now, and where we want to go. Your place may be radically different than someone else and your thoughts reactions and what you perceive will not match.
Some folks may be offended by certain words, images, or behaviors because of something in their place where certain things are bad reminders. They may have fought tooth and nail to rid themselves of a memory of that place, and when that place rears its head it is not a happy event for them. You may be completely oblivious to that place, and say or do things that contribute to problems, but it is extremely important to be aware of it when it happens, and apologize, and not let it happen again. Life is tricky like that because people have lumped in being sensitive with the semantic of being politically correct, and they are two completely different things. Being sensitive is more on a personal level of knowing the people that surround you, and accepting them, and appreciating where they come from.
We all have people that we deal with daily, who are our friends, associates, co workers, whoever. There may be things that they are dealing with, and have dealt with that make them who they are, and deal with those folks long enough, and build trust, and you will share histories, or herstories. If you listen close enough to them they will tell you without actually telling you what bothers them, what their hurts and pains are, and how much you can even joke with them. But sometimes we either miss something, or forget, and there is something that is offensive, or disturbing laid out unwittingly, or by mistake. The most you can do as someone who cares is be empathetic in an effort to rectify the situation. You may possibly never be able to put yourself in their shoes, or you may even wonder what the big deal is, but it's not about you all of the time. People have nuances, and feelings, and it is important to acknowledge that throughout life. There is nothing worse than someone poo- pooing what someone else feels, just because they don't feel it. That is not being politically correct. That is being concerned for how your fellow human being feels. Trust me, in life there will be a time when you want someone to be sensitive to you, and what you are feeling, and it sucks when you feel that someone may not care.
We are all in this world together, and it would be wonderful if we all genuinely cared for one another, but that's a utopia fantasy. In the real world there are fights, there are conceited jerks, and there are people that we just really don't like. That's reality. But the folks that we do like, deal with, have fun with, and want to keep around because they enrich us, are the folks that when something is wrong with them, there should be a feeling that there is something wrong with you also. Being sensitive to others is actually a tough thing to do, but we all need to practice it, because things that go around come around. And when it comes around to us, we are going to need someone to understand.
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