“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Oh no you didn’t.”
These defensive, sometimes hostile responses catch us off guard when we receive them. After all, you were just paying someone a compliment, right?
You noticed a person has lost weight, so you mention it. They think you’re calling them fat.
Or you compliment a neighbor’s freshly-mowed lawn. They take this as criticism they didn’t cut it sooner.
Or you tell someone, “you did a really great job on this one.” They assume you’re saying they didn’t do a great job on all those other ones.
True, sometimes you’re partly to blame. Sometimes the words that come out of your mouth don’t properly express your sentiment. Sometimes you’re just a walking, talking faux pas.
But most of the time?
You’re dealing with people who look for reasons to be outraged.
It’s a shame, too. These outraged few cause us to withhold our compliments. Instead of giving freely, we hesitate. Instead of throwing around kudos and attaboys, we hold our tongues.
Don’t.
Don’t let the perpetually outraged prevent you from complimenting those you deem worthy.
When you find a great blog post, tell the owner how great you think it is.
When a blogger you’ve interacted with previously creates something remarkable, let him or her know.
When you discover something worth complimenting, compliment it.
And to the perpetually outraged out there, I assure you…
We weren’t calling you fat.
Creative Commons Image via andrew_mc_d.
