Offended and Upset

Yesterday I wrote about ‘nitty gritty’. Several concerned friends contacted me…

The London Evening Standard (May 2002) stated: ‘…expressions such as “nitty gritty” are increasingly being banned by Britain’s police forces because of their racist overtones… the phrase originates from the 18th century slave trade and refers to the detritus left behind in the hold of slave ships.’

For many ‘nitty gritty’ is a harmless phrase; others are offended and upset by it.

Yesterday the BBC reported on the ‘systemic and sustained abuse’ of vulnerable children in Doncaster children’s homes. There were stories of children punched, locked out naked, locked overnight in bathrooms, dragged across the floor, left in soiled clothes, made to sit in cold baths…

Sometimes we should take a stand against deliberate and avoidable injustice, exploitation or suffering; it’s right to be offended and upset.

Last year the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stated that gay sex is a sin…

TV presenter Sandi Toksvig responded: ‘The lives of LGBTQ+ people are at stake here. I have had several credible death threats over the years… Each and every one of those threats has come from an evangelical Christian.’

She concluded. ‘Call me, Justin. Let’s have coffee. Let me talk you round…’

Next week Justin and Sandy are having that coffee. That must be a good reaction when we’re offended and upset.

…When Old Testament Jewish priests were ordained the blood from a sacrifice was put on the lobe of his right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.’ Ears, thumbs and toes… a picture of what the priests hear, what they do and where they go…

Musing… what should make me upset and offended; how I respond when I’m upset and offended; ‘ears, thumbs and toes’… what I hear and how I hear it, what I do and how I do it, where I go and how I get there… how I can avoid upsetting and offending others.