Okay, real talk: I hate to be the one to tell ya this, but the world doesn’t revolve around you. The world doesn’t stop just because something doesn’t happen the way you want or rubs you the wrong way.

That was harsh, I know, but hear me out. Sometimes it’s good to hear from someone who just flat out disagrees with you. Even if you’re certain that they’re completely offbase and out of line, you can learn a lot from those experiences (or at least grow through those experiences). Sometimes it’s worth it to set down your little “offended” hat and sit down to listen

I’ve written before that “there are almost 7.5 billion people in this world, and 325 million of them live in the US. With that many people, we’re bound to have some disagreements, some differences in values, and some different world views.”

Unfortunately for us, we will never live in a world of entirely like-minded people. In fact, there wouldn’t be much of a point to human connections if there’s no personality, no compromise, and no give and take. It’s in living with other people and building those relationships that we learn about love, the God who personifies that love, and the world that God has created in which we get to live this sliver of our lives. When we get offended at everything little comment, we put up walls that shut out that world and those relationships.

I know it got under your skin when that coworker of yours belligerently declared that she is against every right you’ve been fighting to protect. I know you are reeling at all the little social injustices and microaggressions that you witness all the time. I know you it just really irks you when that guy in your psychology class makes all those snide comments about a cause that you hold dear.

But this about this: who has time to dwell on all those little things? Ten years from now, are you really going to hold on to that really insensitive comment that someone made on a mutual friend’s Facebook post? How does being offended profit you in the long run?

When did the world start telling you that you are so much more important than every other person who are right here in this world with you? Taking to Facebook or YouTube or comment cards to vent and complain about all the ways the world has wronged you will never solve anything. Who has time to be offended all the time? I sure don’t.

Now this is different from speaking up and standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t be vocal and champion the causes that matter to you and try to make a difference in the world.

But we should be able to describe what someone looks like by using the color of their skin without worrying potentially offending someone by describing someone as black when it is a simple distinguishing fact in a room full of diverse people. We should be able to speak our opinion and know that our right to have an opinion is respected, even if our opinion itself is an unpopular one. We should be able to write a sentence without going back through to edit for political correctness just in case it may ruffle some feathers.

We have freedom of speech, y’all, so why do we immediately jump on the people who choose to use that right and speak their minds? Yeah, they probably definitely will say things that you don’t agree with, but that doesn’t mean you get to play the victim card because you are offended by their difference of opinion.