Proverbs 19:11

​ Proverbs 19:11
"A person’s (insight) gives him patience, and his (virtue) is to (overlook) an offense."

We can't always take things too seriously when others say things that are offensive but, they innocently didn't mean to be.

Years ago, when I was still in the Marine Corps, there was a new Marine that joined my unit.

The next day I noticed he looked stressed out. I asked him, "Are you ok Marine? He responded, "No sir, I'm stressed out because of you." I replied, "You haven't known me long enough for me to stress you out yet. What seems to be the problem I asked?" He replied, Because I don't know what to call you. I said "Excuse me." He said, "What do I call you sir? Do I call you black man, a colored man, or negro man. I said "Wow, I can see how that would stress you out. He said, "You see what I mean?" I said, "I do."

So, I told him I had a solution, he said "Please tell it to me." I said, "You can call me 'Sean,' he said, Sean? I said yes Sean....my name."

He said "Sean, hmm, I never thought of that." I said, do you feel the stress leaving you? I know I do.

He said, "So, no black man, colored man or negro man? I said "no, that won't be necessary.....just Sean." 

This did not surprise me, I had a Marine when I was stationed in Brussels Belgium named OJ. OJ told me he had never actually seen a black person until he joined the Marine corps, except on TV. I asked OJ where he was raised and he said he was from a very small town in Iowa. I remember asking, "Then, if you've never seen a black person since you joined the Marine Corps, why aren't you prejudiced? OJ responded, "How do you know I'm not?" OJ was one of my best Marines, and he was fun to be around because he was extremely honest. We worked out frequently and we never brought the subject up again.

L.A.R. Listen and Release