Sensitivity Training

Is it just me or are we steadily becoming more and more hypersensitive about more and more things? When I was growing up in the 80's and 90's it didn't seem like every little thing that happened offended everyone, or if it did they didn't inform the world that they were offended. What happened to having thick skin, or letting things roll off, or any other expression that means don't take offense at things, just let them go. If people want to be hypersensitive and get bent out of shape about everything I guess that's fine. My problem is that now people have come to expect some sort of recompense whenever they feel wronged. If some one says something mean, they don't want an apology,they want their moment in the spotlight to publicly bash that person and then they want a payout.

My big issue with this hypersensitivity epidemic is that I think we've lost a true sense of what we should be sensitive about. There are things I'm sure we could all agree on that require our sensitivity. Here's a couple of examples - discussions of child abuse with people that have been abused, movie or video game selection when hanging out with friends who have seen combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, listening to a girl relate a story about how she was raped. These things require us to be sensitive to the people around us, and most of us probably are. But when people become hypersensitive I think the lines between truly sensitive topics and people's personal preferences become blurred.

This post is inspired by the Muslim community center being built 2 blocks from ground zero in New York City. The debate is raging with some people saying Muslims should have just as much right to build there as anyone else, and some saying it is a provocation meant to celebrate the September 11th murders.

It may be that the people building this place truly just want to have a nice community center for everyone to enjoy, and they absolutely have a right to build it wherever they want. My question, is building it right there being sensitive to the people who lost family and friends in the attacks? Couldn't it be built in another part of the city and serve the same purpose?

New News

I'm ready for a new news source. Yesterday I heard a radio news snippet that there were some deaths in Afghanistan. So I looked up the AP story and was very disappointed.

What if we had a news company that was committed to reporting events to us through a lens of love and respect. Instead of reporting "just the facts" and numbers, instead of slipping in judgements and condemnations of people, instead of putting spins or pushing agendas, instead of pretty much everything that is characteristic of our current news sources; this company would love the people it is reporting about and to.

Can you imagine this news company? I hope you can. Think about it, and tell me what it would be like.

Here's one thing I know would happen with this news company. When reporting on recent deaths in the war it wouldn't be just a statistic to be compared with how many deaths we've had in days past and it wouldn't be used as a chance to point out the deaths that occurred a while back because a helicopter crashed while not engaged with the enemy. It wouldn't comment on how long the war has gone on and how many troops the president has sent. This news company would acknowledge the sacrifice that was made by the ones that died. It would tell us who they were, why they were serving and what they had accomplished. It would encourage us to appreciate their lives and to let our hearts break with those of their family members and friends. We would see anguish in the face of the news anchor that has to relate this story and it wouldn't be crammed in between sports scores and weather reports.

What would this news company be like? Remember, they report in a spirit of love and respect for those they report about and to.