My Glass or Plastic Heart

On special occasions, like family gatherings, we use glass stemware from IKEA to hold our drinks. We also have plastic stemware for the kids to use, and they look exactly like the glass stemware while they're on the table or in the sink. While I was washing these glasses, I sometimes had a hard time telling the difference between the glass and the plastic stemware, even while I was holding them and washing them. Then I thought, why do I even want to know? What difference would it make? You can be rougher with plastic than with glass, but I could just be gentle with all of the stemware, and it really wouldn't matter if the glass I was washing was made of glass or plastic.

I think that some people are made out of tougher stuff than others, emotionally speaking. Some people are harder to upset or offend than others, but really, why would you even want to upset or offend them? Why would I want to wash the plastic stemware more forcefully than the glass ones? Just because I can? That's not a good enough reason, in my opinion, to risk damaging stemware, and it's certainly not a good enough reason to risk hurting someone's feelings.

Now, with some people, it's not much of a risk. You could say things bluntly to them and they won't take offense. You can give them hard criticism without making them upset. Some people are more like plastic than glass. But you have to really know a person to know how tough they are. It's not usually obvious whether our emotions are fragile or not. We all look the same on the outside. At least, I'm not trained at spotting the difference. Even if I know a person as a friend, I don't always know how much verbal or emotional abuse they can take, and I don't need to know that any more than I needed to know whether the stemware was made of glass or plastic.

In most things, it's best to err on the side of caution. Sure, there are some people you can be blunt with, and maybe there are times when that'd be best, but I think that in most cases, it's better to respect each other's feelings and try not to hurt them. Treat them as though their emotions were made of glass. You won't always be right. There are some plastic-hearted people out there. But for the sake of the glass-hearted people, try to be kind. Kindness is a virtue anyway, no matter what kind of person you're talking to.