I caught my son throwing rocks into the road the other day. No cars were coming, and he wasn't throwing hard enough to hit the chickens on the other side. BUT if two cars came along one of his stones could be picked up by the first and slung so as to hit the second's windshield. So, too, our words can hit targets we don't mean to or even know about. Mike alerted us to this possibility. Groucho is not dictating what we say, he is simply saying "ouch" and it is up to all of us to THINK about what we say, and decide if we're going to pitch those stones into the road or not.

Yes, some people take offense way too easily. And sometimes we make jokes to try to deal with the horror of something. The trouble there is that if that is all we do then we don't actually deal with the problem. We absolutely have to have a sense of humor to survive in this world. But humor does not mean insensitivity. Consider 'Fiddler on the Roof', there is plenty of humor, and plenty to cause one to think and to cry, but nothing that makes the watcher feel denigrated.

Praise, I truly appreciated your story. I think that we all need to learn to feel and express that kind of JOY and LIFE as a matter of course. I sort of think that is what God wants us to do.

I do hope Groucho won't go away. This forum is a wonderful opportunity to learn, and whenever even one of us leaves many opportunities tolearn AND teach are lost...

Cami Su