imported post
Words have meaning. Unfortunately, society has been dumbed down over the years and with the encroachment of PC behavior, personal responsibility is not as common as it once was, being replaced by "victim" mentality.
In the statement "HE scared me", "scared' is used as a verb (an action word) and infers the person did something specific that warranted the reaction.
Example- If I jump out and yell "BOO!", or sneak up behind you and blast an air horn, I have "scared you".
If I am minding my own business, behaving within the law, not causing a disturbance, and yet you have some some irrational fear or hypersensitive reaction to my appearance, then the appropriate statement is "I was scared".
In this case, the word is being used as an adjective (descriptive word) and describes the person's response as opposed to another persons action.
People who have done nothing wrong, inappropriate, illegal, improper, etc. should not have to change their behavior to try and protect others from the consequences of that persons own emotional, social, or character flaw that leads to a hypersensitivity, irrational response, or mis-perception of reality.
Instead of jumping to the conclusion that they are normal and "in the right" in areas where they have no experience, education, or training they should instead realize their ignorance and make the effort to learn more before reaching a conclusion.
Just another example of how so many people go through life making decisions based on emotion rather than logical thought...
