It's so easy to take offense at the many unkind and insensitive things people do and say. Some become so wounded from such experiences, they allow themselves to be limited by them. Their likelihood for positive progress and achievement often becomes the casualty of such experiences. When insulted and injured, we are tempted to wilt away and sulk in our self-pity at having been mistreated.
Achievers aren't immune to injury but they do something many aren't as willing to do. They decide to let go of offense and move on. They opt to forgive rather than fume over the pettiness of others.
Many years ago the great Booker T. Washington was appointed head over the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. As a black man, he had been insulted on many occasions and had refused to allow those insults from the poisoned minds of the prejudiced to limit him. He was a winner determined to make a difference.
One day, Mr. Washington was walking past the home of a wealthy family when the woman who lived there saw Washington and assumed he was a hired-hand that her husband had secured to do yard work. She called him over to where she stood and asked him to chop some wood for her. Mr. Washington removed his coat and proceeded to chop the wood for her. He carried the wood into the kitchen when a servant girl recognized him. She went immediately to the woman that had asked Washington to chop the wood and told her of her mistake.
The next day, the woman ventured to Mr. Washington's office and began to apologize for her mistake. "I did not know it was you I put to work."
Washington was polite in his response, "It's entirely all right, madam. I like to work and I'm delighted to do favors for my friends." Clearly, Washington was a winner. His manner was so winsome that the wealthy woman began to give liberal amounts of money to the Institute. She also persuaded many of her wealthy friends to do likewise.
Let's face it, in life there will be many wounds others will inflict upon us. If we're to achieve, we must choose an attitude that rises above the intents of others. We must decide that we'll not only survive such experiences but we'll prevail.