Waiting for the pause

They talk.

We think as they talk.

We wait for the pause.

We hear.

We think again, when is our chance.

We are on the starting blocks.

We are chomping at the bit.

They pause.

We’re in.

Our chance to stand on the podium.

Our chance for the limelight.

Our chance to talk and perhaps only be heard.

We hear but we didn’t listen.

We are always waiting for the pause.

Offending someone is the least of it.

Often in life, we avoid telling others something as we fear offending them or we feel awkward about being honest to someone.

I’m not advocating brutal honesty, that is just rude, shaming and not appropriate in a case.

However, just as brutal is leaving a person guessing or engineering a way to ‘take them out’ of the picture, without being decent enough to tell them why.

The options, don’t tell people and leave them guessing, be brutally honest and upset/shame them or learn how to give feedback and deal with situations that avoid offence, that is constructive and bring about a good outcome for all parties.

We are taught not offend yet that leaves the other person feeling rejected and uncertain as to why something happened.

This is worse than offending them as they have no closure, no say, nothing but the silence of avoiding offence.