Hello beautiful people. In part 1, we found out what an offence entails, we dug deep to look at it from different points of view and the possible impact it can have on individuals, families, society and the world at large.
Let's continue by looking at the causes of offences.
Difference in opinions
Offences often stem from a place of misunderstanding, they arise from a difference in perspectives and our aspirations. Allow me elaborate on that for a while.
People have different views and opinions about things, you might have heard of the 6 or 9 perspective, it's the same symbol but depending on the way it's turned, it can mean different things to different people. This alone can cause offences especially when neither party is ready to compromise on their point of view or acknowledge the other party in any way.
Some people are adamant, they must always be right irrespective of the fact that they know that they aren't right, their pride and their sense of entitlement will override their sense of understanding and end up causing offences between them and any other person they come in contact with.
Sheer Ignorance
Out of all the cases that can cause an offence, this particular one can be the most innocent of them all and at the same time the most annoying, offences arise when or where an information is not understood and where there is not enough information about a particular subject matter.
The people who are offended in this area are those who do not ask questions, they don't know that they don't know and they assume they do, in the end, not only do they discover that they don't know but the little they know is mostly wrong or inconsistent or outdated.
Ignorance sometimes makes a person offended that they haven't gotten the information they should have and sometimes it is because they are not aware of the orientation or social standing of another person.
Misinterpretation of Information
Another popular cause of offences is the issue of wrong interpretation of a message or information. Sometimes an information is incomplete and the receiver will misinterpret it to mean something else. They will act on the misinterpreted information and when the result arrives, they are terribly wrong.
Imagine a case where man puts in the work to provide for his family but unfortunately couldn't meet up with what he usually brings home, the wife then refuses to appreciate his efforts, instead of encouraging him, she demands for much more.
That level of pressure can cause a misunderstanding and offences will arise from that, there are times when we expect people to give us things we feel we are entitled to and that mentality will not allow us understand that these people are humans and they face the same challenges we face and they also have their own needs, if we can put aside our high level of expectations, we will be able to cause offences to seize.
Disrespect and Dishonor
Many people do not have regard for people and they say whatever comes to their minds, there is no filter to their words or their actions, they do not mind being rude, they do not care for protocols, they do no care for age or wisdom. They can speak to anybody, they do not listen when someone is speaking to them. They do no care if they are wrong. All they want to do is show that they are educated or that they are richer. They lose respect for people and they don't care about dishonoring people.
Excessive talking
Everything should be done moderately, one of the biggest causes of offences is talking too much, when you talk excessively, you go ahead to say some things you will not be able to remember, and when you do so, there is every tendency to lie, there is every tendency to say things you will not be able to defend in the end.
Displeasure
Some people are easily irritated by others, either in the way they dress, the work they are doing, the place they live or the blessings they enjoy. Sometimes they just find displeasure for no good reason.
A person who is easily displeased can be easily offended, it may be a person is listening to music and they feel it is too loud and they take that displeasure and find offence with that.
Assumptions
Except you are told, do not think that it is so, except you can confirm that the information you have is accurate, don't use it to make a claim, assumptions can quickly lead to offence because most times when we assume, we assume wrongly and the next thing we do is to accuse wrongly as well.
Low Self Esteem
This is a critical issue, someone who is not confident in themselves will easily find offence when they are in a company of people who are confident in themselves. They easily misconstrue words and actions of others to become an insult or they would feel they are being underestimated.
Personal and Emotional Imbalance
Some people offend themselves through the way they think, through the way they look at themselves and through, sometimes their background and their experiences can make them easily irritated and easily offended. Many people are emotionally disturbed, they haven't achieved what they want in life and the sum total of their frustration results in offences.
Cheers.