Perhaps it's time we put on our adult pants and stopped being so sensitive

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

• George Carlin

I’ll start by saying that I have no way of knowing what actually happened in this instance. I can’t comment on the particulars and details because I don’t know what they are. That disclaimer aside, I found myself reading and re-reading this tweet in an effort to understand. It’s entirely possible that the firefighters in question were indeed rude, crude, and disrespectfully sexually suggestive to Ms. Pace. They may well have been complete jackasses and acted in a manner both unprofessional and offensive. It’s also within the realm of possibility that Ms. Pace is hypersensitive and predisposed to taking things out of context. The firefighters may have been asking her to move her vehicle…or they could have been making lewd and suggestive comments to her. I can’t rule out either possibility- as I’ve said, I’ve no way of knowing…but it did set me to thinking.

One thing I’ve noticed of late is that it seems we as a society have grown to be hypersensitive and quick to take offense. Whenever we run across something that runs counter to our tender sensibilities, we react in anger, claiming to be the aggrieved party. Someone is disrespecting us…and they MUST be held to account. Granted, some of the righteous indignance may well be appropriate, but when outrage is the default (and immediate) reaction, how does one have any hope of understanding where another is coming from?

Collectively, we spend so much of our lives tightly wound, as if we’re going through our daily lives anticipating being offended. It’s as if we feel irrelevant if we don’t have something that we can wax indignant over. Instead of spending so much energy and effort taking offense over something someone allegedly said or did…or didn’t…perhaps it might be useful to take a look at WHY we react the way we do?

I’m not saying that bullies and abusers and/or others who belittle, abuse, and/or otherwise mistreat people be given a free pass. I’m saying that they can’t play whatever game they’re playing if we don’t participate. People like that thrive on reactions; it’s what makes what they do enjoyable for them. If you react, you provide them what they want, and they can move on to their next target/victim with a sense of accomplishment. Deny them a reaction, move on as if nothing happened, and eventually they’ll quit. It’s no fun playing a game when your intended target refuses to take the bait.

Isn’t it time we stop taking ourselves…and our tender sensibilities…so seriously? Isn’t it time we stopped giving others so much power over us? How about ignoring the trolls and getting on with things? Maybe, just maybe, that might solve the problem.