Latter-day Saint Life

Taking Offense: Is It Our Choice?

I believe that generally people don’t mean to be unkind, to say hurtful things, or to offend. I believe they say these things through lack of understanding, not being in the situation before, or being uneducated with all things infertility/childless. Should we not be sensitive to them?

It's easy that our first reaction is one of offence. But, Elder Bednar says this about being offended:

When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offence. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

To be offended is a choice?? I never thought of it that way before. Elder Bednar goes on to say:

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