Though the culture we live among is generally non-confrontational, they definitely a direct people in many ways. I am often taken aback by some of the comments I receive from complete strangers: "You need to put more clothes on your kids." "You paid to much for those oranges." "That color paint on your walls is much too red."
I was hit by one of these comments recently when I bumped into a lady at Wal-Mart that used to be a student in my aerobics class. She did not say, "Hi, how are you doing?" She did not say, "Wow, it's good to see you again." No, the first thing out of her mouth was a shocking statement of "You have gotten fat, again." Knowing that this lady really did not mean this in a harsh way but rather just in a matter-of-fact way of observation did help me to laugh a little. I explained to her that after having two children and not yet having fully weaned the second, my body"just ain't what is used to be". We talked about other things- her business, her family, etc., and we said goodbye. I walked away thinking about how funny the whole encounter was... and then not so funny too:-).
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