Egregious!!

Hoping you all know the meaning of the word "egregious" as in "what an EGREGIOUS (outrageous) statement!"

Some people open their mouths and make egregious statements.  They don't THINK of the consequences their words may have on others.  Sometimes these statements FESTER over the years because initially one cannot believe such a statement was made - we try as humans to "forget/forgive" but eventually those egregious words come back and smack us like a huge slap.  Usually, it is 5-7 years later but we VOICE it out - and then we are told "oh, didn't know you KEPT A GRUDGE so many years!!!" 

From TODAY - I vow I will not be manipulated by other human beings, no matter how much they claim to be my "friend".  If they make an egregious statement, I vow to now say "That remark was EGREGIOUS!!  Do you realize how it hurt me?  Are you prepared to continue our friendship or end it?  How important is it to you to make that hurtful statement?"

We have always been the type of neighbour/friend that (no matter what past hurts there were) if we were called at 11:00 p.m. to help move someone's husband off the floor where he fell (half expecting we might have to call an ambulance, but pleased he was only just SHOCKED and we were able to put him to bed).....we GO without question.

Those who don't believe in God - I guess you won't have to "answer" to anyone about your life and how you lived it.  We happen to believe in God very much and strive our present lives to be good and an inspiration.  Actually, I haven't figured out how athiests think.....do they believe that when they die that's IT - that's the END??  They were just born to die and that's it??  I have a good friend who is an athiest and I often wonder (as she is much older than I am) what she thinks about her END (and we ALL go to that point!).

Try not to make an egregious statement to anyone - it cannot be taken back.  Once I heard a story about a woman who loved to "gossip" - she was Catholic and went to her priest to ask how she could stop gossiping.  He told her to gather a bunch of feathers on a windy day and take them to the centre of the market square and set them down.  "But they ALL blew away!!!" she exclaimed to the priest.  "Yes, alas, that is what they do and once gone, there isn't a way to retrieve them".