Crossing The Line

Have I ever crossed the line? Sure.

In 30 years in front of live microphones, I've left my footprints on the line, on the other side of the line and even tracked the yellow paint right to where the offended parties hunted me down to dump all kinds of real and imagined grievances on me.

I say imagined grievances, because so often we react not to the literal words or the real intent of the speaker, but to "dog whistles," things that trigger alert, alarm and reflexive retaliatory response... Often overkill.

But it's good to remember that the freedom that allows us to draw our own lines, doesn't guarantee we'll all draw them in the same locations... And not everyone who crosses a line we've drawn in our minds does so with malicious intent.