Have you ever put your foot in your mouth?
Of course that is just a phrase, but the idea is very real. If only we could take the words back. Make them unheard, or unwritten. Well, unfortunately, especially in this day of social media, that is impossible. Once it is said to a person or put out into cyberspace, there is no getting it back.
Often times we want so desperately to be one of the crowd we will say or do anything. No matter who we hurt with our nasty comments and our bullying. If one cannot make the team is he then ridiculed? Or is he still your friend? Some people are heavy, some too thin, some impoverished, and some not very pretty or handsome. Do these things make it open season on these people? With school about to start it is important to be conscious of gossip and bullying.
Don’t think for one moment this is done by kids only. All you have to do is turn on the TV and you will see a plethora of mean and nasty talk aimed toward others. Are you the neighborhood gossip, or the bar room braggart? My parents use to tell us that, ‘if you haven’t got something nice to say, say nothing at all.’ Unless you like the taste of shoe polish it sounds like good advice to me.
As parents we need to teach our children that words can hurt, and not just for a moment, but for a lifetime. Teach them that the best thing to do is to treat others the way they want to be treated. Bullying, cyber or otherwise should never be accepted. Instead help them understand every person is perfect and beautiful in God’s eyes, and should be treated as such.
We as writers have the freedom to make our characters less than perfect, and still be a hero. It is good to see realism come to life on the page. We can also be a force to have bullies get their just rewards, at least in our writings.
Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:4-5