Pondering Pundit

Editors note: This column ran a few weeks back after listening to how some of our public officials speak to each other. Since the first publication I have come to find that more and more individuals, both public officials and private citizens, really don’t think about what they say or how they say it. Hopefully our readers will take note of this column and gain some benifit from it.

We have all heard that ol’rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

How untrue this is. I think I would much rather by bludgeoned by sticks and stones than be the recipient of harmful words. Breaks, cuts, bruises and scratches will all heal, but the wound of a harsh, mean, hurtful or evil word can take a lifetime to get over, if ever. Words are probably the most harmful weapon there is. Words are what start wars, end marriages and cause crimes.

Saying something is an easy thing to do. It’s not hard to voice your opinion or thoughts. In fact, we are encouraged to speak our minds. From the moment we learn to talk to the day we die, people always want us to tell us what we think, or what our opinion is about a variety of subjects. We are taught to defend ourselves with our words, we are taught to speak up against things we do not agree with, and we are taught to use our words for encouragement, praise and love as well as for discipline, disagreement and chastisement.

However, these words we use to communicate with each other often have a very harmful effect on the person or persons receiving them. How many people think about what they are going to say before it comes spilling out of their mouth? How many people think about the effects their words are going to have on others? This goes for both positive and negative words.

Every word spoken by every person will have an effect in one way or another. The question is this: does the person speaking the words consider how those words will be received? If not, they really should.

Even the best of intentions can be perceived in a bad way. There have been many accounts where someone has said something, something they thought was a good or positive thing and before you know it, others retort the words as those being words of distain or words of harm. Be cautious in what you say.

Be cautious in what you say. Think about how those words will be perceived. Play out all the possible outcomes of your words. Because in the end, do you really want to be that person who says something that will do long term damage to another person, all because you did not think about the ramifications of your own words? I hope not.

Happy reading Cibola.