It's likely that sometime in the next week, I'll be offended by someone's actions.
Joel Osteen pointed out the connection between the word "offense" and an ancient word for "bait."
When someone says or does something that tips my blood pressure up a beat, what I ought to recognize that life's just baiting me into a bad mood. Sometimes I wonder if offense stems from the assumption that a person is bad at heart. For example, if someone I care about like my brother cuts me off in traffic, I give him the benefit of the doubt. He probably didn't realize he was doing it, or he was probably just having a bad moment. But if a stranger does the same thing...
We can protect our good humor by watching out for bait, floating everywhere around us, and refusing to bite.
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