Today was a strange, depressing day. Not that that is particularly unusual; most days seem to have strange and/or depressing elements to them.

But, what stands out about this day was that I didn't post something I spent nearly a half-hour composing.

What happened?

Well, I read a post (or posts) in another thread that seemed to be crying out for a humorous answer. So, I went at it with vigor. I wrote several things in my response, and each item on my list was more amusing than the one before. I did a really good job, and found myself chuckling out loud. Had a real good one here. I continued refining my work.

Then, I hit the "Preview" button, which I always do before I post. You never know when you'll miss a typo, or want to re-word something.

But, as I read over what I had written, an odd feeling came over me. Something was really wrong here. I read over the post again. Absolutely no mistaking it: It was barely funny at all. In fact, it would probably make the person I was responding to feel very awkward - through absolutely no fault of theirs. I tried and tried to salvage something from this post. I figured there must be some way to make something light and amusing out of this. There wasn't. I would not have come off in a particularly good light (as I now realized), and I would have possibly offended someone who I have never had any friction with whatsoever.

So, I listened to my inner red flags and didn't post. I don't regret it.

Don't get me wrong, there was nothing in what I had written - either content or language - that would've gotten me suspended, or anything like that. It wasn't that kind of post.

But, for the first time, I had to slam on the brakes, sit, ponder and reassess my slightly skewed view of the world - and how close I came to, however inadvertantly, possibly hurting someone's feelings.

Guess I'm just gettin' old...

Signor V.