This is a poster put out during WWII in England and I feel it is an appropriate response to a situation I took part in today. At work I took part in an excessively long meeting in which my fellow employees and I were chastised and encouraged to rise to our full potential. Was it frustrating? A little. Did it feel excessive? Kinda. Did I want to stand up in the middle of the meeting and yell out my thoughts on how I wanted to do what I wanted and continue enjoying the things that were being taken away and tell the leaders to get off my case? Yeah I did but not as much as I would have spectated that I would.
You see, being offended is a choice. Literally. As I sat there I thought about how I could react two different ways. I could either take all the comments personally with a negative connotation and condense the comments into a ball of anger and then talk with people afterwards about how stupid the entire thing was...
OR
I could try to realize the reasoning behind it. I could look from another's perspective and find the good that would result if changes were made. I could respect my leaders and keep any confusion or negative feelings to myself rather than gossiping about them and creating a negative work atmosphere.
It's one of those difficult easy questions. The correct choice to make is obvious. In the end, having a positive attitude will be easier and make the most progress but choosing to be offended would most likely give me the greatest satisfaction temporarily and allow me to further enjoy some of the things we were instructed against.
It's really all about the eternal (or maybe just long term) perspective.
Is having an Arabic name and going on a trip to McDonalds and sitting next to my love interest worth missing an opportunity to change a life or even to simply obey?
No, it's not.
So I suppose I will be okay with all of this.
Even if it is smothering the rebel inside of me.
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