Intent
I had a thought. Last night, after dinner, we played a game based on Dominos. The name of the game and its rules are immaterial. At the end of a round, each player counts up the pips on the dominos still in their hand, and low score wins after nine rounds. Here’s the thought. What if, at the end of one round a player accidentally miscounted, because wine and drinks were flowing and the player’s head was not really in the game, but another player of better math skills saw it, and thought it was done on purpose.
Imagine how the world could turn on such a small thing, an accident. The player who saw it would think it was cheating, report it, talk about it, opinions would shift, people would take sides. Meanwhile, the supposed cheater would have no idea what was going on, why former friends were drifting away, why invitations had dried up, why some people were no longer talking. Slights, previously overlooked, would take on new meaning, and entire relationships would slowly disintegrate. Imagine.
Weird thought, for sure, but over the years I’ve learned that people are strange, and I’ve known that despite my best efforts there are those who would avoid me just as there are those whom I would avoid. I’ve also learned how easy it is to take offense and how it largely depends on one’s willingness to take it, no matter what the other party intends. And once again I am reminded of how hard it is to actually divine people’s true intentions and really know why they did anything. And I think this is where the benefit of doubt comes into play.