A word is not dead

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Alright you have all been in this situation. You are either with a group of people or just a friend. A nice conversation is going on and all of a sudden the topic turns to another person. "Did you hear that so and so did this?"

Thats it. You've entered into a dead end street. You have two choices turn around drive away fast or continue into a direction of no return.

What I'm saying is, you can either join in with the other person, or you can end the bashing. Many people feel uncomfortable sticking up for the person or telling the person talking to stop, but this "fear" needs to be overcome.

Now put yourself in this situation. You have just found out terrible things that a close friend has been saying behind your back. That aching pain in the pit of your stomach is just the beginning. It makes you upset or mad and makes you start to lose trust in that friend. This is why we all need to take a moment or two and think before we talk. Once you say something, its out in the open to be repeated. As Emily Dickenson one poem goes:

A word is dead

When it is said,

Some say.

I say it just

Begins to live

That day.

Basically this poem is saying, once you say something you can never take it back. So think about how you would feel if the same things were being said about you. If you think it would be upsetting, its probably not something you should say outloud.

My job for all of us: Try not to speak rude words about others, instead, give out compliments and smiles.