Kennedy Column

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Something happened this week that not only irritated me, but angered me.

Now the person in question apologized. But I have to admit, I have a very real desire to give him back a little of his own-eye for an eye and all that. It's lucky for him, and a few other people, that I neither believe in nor practice in vengeful actions.

Under law, what this man said would be termed sexual harassment. His only salvation being that I wasn't his employee or co-worker. At any rate, his comments had the same end result.

It reminded me of other incidents I've experienced over the years and they've all managed to bring about the same stream of emotions.

There's nothing worse than someone imposing their actions and comments on another person in an abusive manner-particularly in a work environment or public place. It's humiliating and degrading.

It's not just sexual harassment either. It's any kind of abuse or harassment. It's unacceptable.

You have a co-worker or boss that says things that are out of line, what do you do?

It's hard to do anything really. You react but it's difficult bringing it to the next level-where it belongs-because you fear what that does to everyone else around you.

It's normal.

There's fear for your job, relationships between co-workers and a litany of reasons follow those.

I can't state this strongly enough, and perhaps it's just because my own levels of tolerance have been depleted, but there's no room for it anywhere.

Temper tantrums, rude and crude comments have no place anywhere-between any two or group of people.

I have to admit, I'm guilty of putting up with a lot of crap that should never have crossed the threshold. I've let it be simply because dealing with it would cause more trouble than the incident itself.

We all know, sometimes it's small things that could be interpreted as jovial, if you listen to the offender. It isn't always overwhelming, abusive happenings.

Regardless of what an offender intends, it's unacceptable.

And now, with more people aware of just how much trouble these things have on individuals and workplaces, governments are providing resources.

Colleges are teaching courses on it. Mind you, I get a kick out of some of the titles, "sensitivity training" is one that always tickles my fancy.

You have to be "sensitive" to respect your fellow human beings? Wankerish types make me laugh. Respect is the most basic of human guidelines. Yet, for some obscure reason, we often think that a lack of it is OK as long as the person's intentions were positive.

Sensitivity isn't part of it. It should be, and I repeat, SHOULD be, the standard. Being sensitive implies that you treat some people differently because they could be sensitive about a situation, event or comment.

Ask yourself, if one person reacts that way, wouldn't you think there's something wrong with what you said?

Respecting your family, friends, co-workers, community members and heck, the world at large, should be the minimum standard.

Anything less is a pathetic exhibit of humanity's faults.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

We've all committed crimes against one another-somehow. And not everything needs to be in a courtroom and that's certainly not what I'm saying here.

Being respectful doesn't require perfection-just common sense.