I've come to the conclusion that the only thing a person can do is say "I'm sorry" - and even that is problematic. No matter what the authors of the article say... it's impossible to figure out what might be offensive. Impossible because everyone seems to want to find offense when none has been offered. Apparently we're all supposed to be mind readers anymore. I'm not and never will be.

I just saw a lengthy diatribe by a young woman on her blog... basically she was saying she wanted to rant about her health issue on her blog but the response of her friends was causing her more pain. The gist came down to - no matter what you say you are wrong and you are hurting me even more. Even expressing sympathy for her plight was causing her more heartache. And I have seen similar things expressed in other blogs at other times for other health related concerns.

I give up. Sorry but I do. Rather than try to figure out what is going to cause someone to go into meltdown I will do nothing. And I have to say, I'm pretty sure that this will cause just as much angst as me saying something - but I'm leaving it up to the person to tell ME what they want otherwise I'd rather just not go there and end up being lectured for doing or saying the wrong thing when I had only meant to offer sympathy or my help if needed.