WIY, thanks for “getting it”!. WE just don’t know how much our words will either impress or destroy others. Our smile or Good day might be the only smile or kind word some person might be greeted with the entire day. And as explained in the article, our snide remarks even if it is meant as a joke, can cut a person off at the knees and follow them around for the rest of their lives.
We just don’t know what impression each one of us will and do have on others. Whether they are yiddin or goyim because we either make a chilul Hashem or a kidush hashem with our speech and our actions (or even in-action). We each have a responsible to the people whose lives we pass through on a daily basis. The question which has been debated here and is asked by Rabbi Eisenman is what exactly is the responsibility? Is it to encourage good behavior or to berate what WE determine to be bad behavior?