I called up my friend and asked if he and his brother would come over to my house the next day. "I have decided to have my dog put down," I said. "She has just been sick for too long, and she's starving to death. It's the right thing to do. . . . But I'd like to have you guys over to give me something to do to keep my mind off it. I've already cried enough."
"Sure, we'll come over," my friend told me.
When my friends got there the next day, my doggie had gone to doggie heaven, and I didn't really want to talk about it. That was why I'd invited the guys, knowing that if I invited a girl, she would be all sympathetic and weepy, whereas the guys would be practical and dry-eyed. My theory worked. They did not ask any questions about how it went at the veterinarian's office.
However, my friend DID ask an innocent question that could potentially have made me mad at him for good. He asked: "How was your day?"
The first thought that popped into my head when he asked that was, "How do you THINK my day went???" Then, the second thought as I saw his face cloud over, realizing what he had done, was: "He's just following a script. It was thoughtless, but he definitely didn't mean to hurt my feelings."
I breezily responded, "I went to the library and borrowed a few more books." And the crisis was averted.
Next time one of your friends says something that hurts your feelings, check and see if they're following a script. "How was your day?" is a standard question that people ask at dinnertime, and if you're not one for small talk, simple questions like that can pop out at the wrong time occasionally. Live and let live. We've all made bloopers.
"YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND THE WORLD SEETH ME [JESUS] NO MORE; BUT YE [MY DISCIPLES] SEE ME: BECAUSE I LIVE, YE SHALL LIVE ALSO."