Saying the “Right” Thing..

He intended to start off his lecture with a welcoming note. He saw some really familiar faces and he warmly said, “Oh, I see some students that I had taught last year. It’s really happy to see you all back here.”

It was immediately followed by some mini uproar of “protests”.

Erm…

The “problem” is he was teaching year 1 last here and he is teaching year 1 this year again. He was addressing to the repeats, telling them how happy he was to see them in year 1 again. Erps.. We know it sounded quite wrong, but we also know he didn’t mean that.

No doubt, I also try to be careful of what I say. But in many instances, I still say the “wrong” thing.

For instance, a few weeks ago, I learnt that she just came back from a holiday from Japan recently. She was happy (and proud) to share with me the photos she took over there. Certainly, I was just as happy to have the chance to view the beauty of the country, in her perspective.

I took time to view the photos and was delighted.

When I met her again, I commented whole-heartedly, “Mount Fuji is so awesome!”

She was furious and quickly added, “Out of the whole album, you only mention Mount Fuji??!!”

Erm…

The problem is before she passed the photos to me, she said, “Not much scenery leh, I had taken shots of mainly people.”

Indeed most of her photos were mainly her and him. It was funny to see him sticking out his tongue as if he was about to sweep it between his lips from left to right. It was interesting to see her making monkey-faces while posting for a shot or two. Plus, plus, plus..

But please remember the entire album (of easily over five hundred photos) is either of him, of her or of both of them together (with different backgrounds) and I commented on Mount Fuji first and only, which is not even the main subjects, but just a background behind them. I obviously missed the main characters, and she was offended.

Haha.. I am kidding, she was only acting furious and acting being offended.

But somehow she reminded me some “right” ways of saying things. ;-)

This is such a small case, I know.
I wonder how many people I had unintentionally (but genuinely) hurt,
for saying the “wrong” things…
for asking the “wrong” questions…

Yes, I have always tried to amend the "wrongs".

What if the chance may not be given? Mm...

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- - 洁癖 - -

小和尚把地上的字纸捡起來，先去洗了手。
又照照镜子，洗了脸；再把衣服脱下来，洗了一遍又一遍。

「你这是在干么啊？你洗来洗去，已经浪费半天时间了。」
老和尚问。

「我有洁癖！」
小和尚又说：
「我容不得一点脏，您没发现吗？
每个施主走后，我都把他坐过的椅子擦一遍。」

「这叫洁癖吗？」
师父笑了笑，接着说：
「你嫌天脏、嫌地脏、嫌人脏，
外表虽然干净，內心反而有病，是不洁净了。」