i am offended

i have been offended.

on facebook, someone makes a comment that is political or religious, that opposes how i feel. i am offended.

in the grocery store, someone smacks her young child and calls him stupid. i am offended.

driving, someone cuts me off, then flips me the bird. i am offended.

on twitter, someone tweets that they are letting their baby cry all night, whether he likes it or not. i am offended.

at a gathering, someone i barely know criticizes my way of parenting, spouting "facts" out of ignorance. i am offended.

on flickr, someone shares a picture of their 4 month old in a carseat, on top of an atv. i am offended.

on the news, someone's 2 year old gets out of her house at 12:30 in the morning and almost gets hit by a bus. i am offended.

at church, someone makes an asinine comment directed towards a controversial topic. i am offended.

i am offended by laziness, by apathy, by ignorance, by hate, by judgement.

do i disconnect? turn off the computer and the tv? never go out in public? stop reading the newspaper?

do i speak up? do i become "that woman" who always is complaining about something someone said or did? or put myself in the middle of an argument?

do i keep it to myself? let things boil and fester, until i can't take it anymore and blow up at some unsuspecting passerby in line at the post office?

i am sure i have offended someone. by my words, by my action, by my in-action. i apologize.

my mind is buzzing with topics i want to address in a forum that is my own. this blog. but fear overtakes me half way through, and i can't put the words to (virtual) paper. i don't want to offend someone unknowingly. there are people i love who say things i don't love, and while this is MY space, they visit it.

sometimes it's fun to be all shallow and superficial, and pretend that my child poops rainbows. that i have it together, and i am always happy. but sometimes i am offended. my feelings get hurt and i say nothing or do nothing, right up until my heart feels like it will split at the seams. i want so badly to defend myself and my choices, sometimes, so much so that i cannot discern between defending myself and screaming "YOU ARE WRONG!"

how do i say what i want to say, without the repercussion it may carry?

if you blog publicly, how do you choose what to keep quite about and what to defend? even if you don't blog, what makes you stand up for one thing, but not another?