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ULTRA SENSITIVE Every time I turn around, I'm hearing how someone has been or might be offended with what someone else said about something. I suppose that the "under 40" generation was raised on these ultra sensitive standards, but some of us came from a much better and tougher time when people really didn't give a flip what anyone said about anything. It was called FREE SPEECH, and it came with a nice little slogan that said, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but WORDS WILL NEVER HURT ME." And we believed it. If someone said offensive things about you or to you, then you either punched them in the face or you took the high road and ignored them. You NEVER played the victim and expected anyone to lose a job or to be sued or arrested for exercising their free speech, unless their words constituted outright libel or slander, both of which were punishable by law. But this modern notion of society turning against a person just because he said something that SOME people might view as "racist" or "sexist" is just plain stupid, evil, and it's incredibly weak.Most of my generation would be embarrassed to admit that they have been offended by much of anything, much less cheap words! Little girls sometimes got offended, but they were usually punished for being babies, and they were told to TOUGHEN UP and GROW UP. Everyone else was too busy working or studying or taking care of more important things to be getting offended about stuff. Yet, today we have time to fire back at every little insult and every little accusation. We feel the need to speak up and defend ourselves and clear ourselves from every possible offense, and we often help this sick and weak society to spread the "guilt" around by acting all shocked with what this or that person might have said. Why does anyone CARE what they said? I sure don't! I'm too busy working, preaching, printing and writing to give time to such trivial matters, and I seriously wonder about people who do have the time for it. Taking the high road was once a common way of life. Now it's about as common as "common sense." Just remember, it was the evil Pharisees who were always trying to catch Jesus in his words (Mark 12:13), and it was Jesus who had the strength to remain silent and endure hardness (Isa. 53:7). People who seek to "make a man an offender for a word" (Isa. 29:21) are doing the devil's work, and we should offer them no assistance whatsoever. In fact, they deserve only to be shoved aside and ignored as people of substance press forward with more important matters. God's people are called to be enduring and fighting soldiers, not weak and sensitive little girls. "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." (Psa. 119:165)