Back in my twenties I was invited on a trip with a group of\npeople that didn\u2019t know each other. When\nthe group arrived, one of the young men in the group started sharing his\nthoughts on a controversial political subject, speaking in a manner that assumed\neveryone else in the group shared his same opinion. As it turned out, not everyone\ndid. Another young man in the group quickly shot back his opposing view and the\ntwo of them proceeded to have a very contentious argument that dragged on for so\nlong that the rest of the group finally insisted they either drop it or take the\nargument elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next morning the young man who had made the controversial\ncomments approached me to tell me how badly he felt for causing so much contention\nwith this other man and making the group uncomfortable. I let him know I appreciated\nhis apology and then gave him the feedback that while everyone respects his\nright to have his opinions it would be wise to first get to know his audience before\nsaying things that might offend someone. He responded that he was going to do\nbetter at being mindful of that going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later on that evening the group was sitting around a campfire\ntalking and telling jokes. That same young man began telling a joke stating, \u201cSo\nthese two guys walk into a strip club\u2026.\u201d Suddenly he stopped mid-sentence and\nsaid, \u201cWait\u2026 before I tell the rest of my joke, does anyone here have a sister\nnamed Bambi?\u201d I burst out laughing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I suppose one must appreciate that he was at least making an\nattempt to get to know his audience\u2026 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every time someone in my family is in the process of saying something without getting to know their audience we remind each other of that one important question – \u201cDoes anyone here have a sister named Bambi?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n