graciousness
courteous kindly consideration, generosity of spirit
It sometimes seems to me like graciousness is a lost art in today's world. I was shown today that this is not totally true, at least in the blog world.
I made a typing error in a comment that I left on my friend Betty's blog A Glimpse Into Midlife. She wrote a wonderful post about her Mennonite heritage and the part that heritage plays in her community today in Filadelfia, Paraguay. A part of my comment was meant to say "I know you play a 'big' part in the life of your community. I instead typed "I know you play a 'bit' part in the life of your community. A "bit" part is defined as a small or insignificant role.....far from the truth about Betty.
I noticed my error a day after I made it when I went back to read the other comments left on this very interesting post. I was embarrassed and felt awful and immediately sent Betty an e-mail to apologize. Her very quick response was full of graciousness and humility. She called it a little mistake and said she knew what I meant. She allowed me to go from feeling awful to feeling good about our friendship.....the ultimate in graciousness.
Blog comments can be a slippery slope. Between typing errors and misunderstanding of the written word with no immediate exchange or explanation offenses may at times be taken. I hope we all benefit from the lesson of Betty's graciousness and continue to give one another the benefit of the doubt.
Lovely. We too often jump to the wrong conclusion that we are being insulted in some way.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post and certainly something we all need to keep in mind as the written word sometimes losing a lot between intent and reception. :) Thanks for the encouraging word!
ReplyDeleteLike much of life, sometimes we rush through our blogly duties, too. I'm happy to hear you're conscientious, though. I know that my world has expanded exponentially since starting my blog 2 years ago...
ReplyDeleteI agree. We need to cut each other some slack, and be kind. I like how you described this error and I really like Betty's nice response.
ReplyDeleteI know how this feels!!
ReplyDeleteI have on occasion left a comment that has been interpreted in a different way to what I meant.
I have offended a few people with my 'call a spade a spade' attitude too!
And then there is the 'language' thing... down here we call some things an "XYZ" and in another country it means something quite different! Like a thong here is a skimpy pair of knickers, but in Australia a thong is rubber slip on shoes! Weird.
I hate those kinds of typos.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got the misunderstanding worked out.
Yeah for Betty!
ReplyDeleteThat also was kind on your part of taking the time to explain. Good manners are always in fashion.
ReplyDeleteLOL on your comment "But, I'd be wearing a Rockies' T Shirt"....I have several of those also...I love my Rockies...thing is, we lived in AZ at the time the player [I think it was Vinny Castilla] told me it was a Colorado Ball.
ReplyDeleteThe snow photo below is just beautiful by the way.
Amen to that Jeanie!
ReplyDeleteIt's challenging to convey things when others can't hear your tone or see your facial expressions. I sometimes forget that when I'm posting or commenting. I tend to be a somewhat sarcastic person. (I know, that comes as shock, right?) Sometimes I get myself in trouble without meaning to.
Slippery slope indeed. Oh my head spins from all the mistakes I've made that I know of and all those I don't....
ReplyDeleteBetty is lovely and so are you and I'm pretty sure I said that exactly as I meant it.
Love you!
Absolutely sister! In the rush of tryin' to keep up with everyone and the game of a good chuckle I have gone back and apologized for something I thought about after the fact. So far nobody was ever offended and knew what I was expressing. Like you I would never every leave someone hurt.
ReplyDeleteHave a glorious day!
Betty is such a lovely person and it's just a basic part of her personality to see the good...and good intentions!...in people. I know I for one truly treasure her friendship, even tho she's thousands of miles away and we'll probably never meet face to face in this Life, anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat you have written is so true! I have gotten myself in trouble with my daughters before via email. They thought I was made and I wasn't.
ReplyDelete