As a kid my mom raised me to understand that the age-old
truth that sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt
you was a total lie. The reality, which my mom helped me understand, was that words
at times could be even more powerful than sticks or stones. I can remember in
elementary school playing this game where we would say rather outlandish things
like your momma wears combat boots or is so fat she can’t fit through the
double doors. It never occurred to me that the majority of these slurs were
always about moms. My mom never fit this
image because she was pretty, skinny and never wore boots of any type. Yet, I
had a few friends whose moms were awesome people but were on the portly side. I
never stopped to consider whether our joking around offended them.
The difficulty then and now is what we say does impact our
thoughts, feelings and actions to such an extent that a war could erupt over
some religious slur or satirical cartoon.
I confess to the fact that I can be rather sarcastic at times and not
realize how powerful a few words could be that someone might actually walk away
and believe that life isn’t worth living.
How horrible that my selfish speech pattern could push someone to question
whether life is worth living!
I applaud a CNN writer who challenged the notion of freedom
of speech that has been exhibited recently between cartoons and comedians. She
was quick to explain that she was all about freedom of expression but believed
that too many had gone too far and everything that was drawn, written or spoken
was far from the truth. Yes, it is always important to be able to laugh at
yourself but now the numbing impact of what happens when everyone goes too far
and we see that words can cause someone to use sticks and stones or in this
case guns to retaliate for this supposed freedom of speech where blood has been
spilt.
I know that race and religion are very tender topics amongst
most. I catch myself on occasion
chuckling when I hear some of my African American kids or teens talk about that
they really aren’t that dark a shade of black or brown. I have watched when
someone has been put down or laughed at because they were the darkest color in
the group. The echo of Martin Luther King’s speech that ends with the thought
that what is most important isn’t the color of one’s skin, or in this context
the shade of color, but this person’s character.
Is it possible to be a person of character who is still able
to use satire, wit, humor, and sarcasm without being slanderous? Why is it that
we poke fun at those that are different from us? Is it possible for those that
are great at pushing the envelope to receive back the same type of treatment
without going overboard? I watched quite a few interviews with different comedians
and celebrities where this erupted into a verbal war. Clearly, everyone is
sensitive to their own biases and convictions when someone else chooses to
belittle them or treat them like dirt…..
I applaud the massive crowd and various leaders from around
the world that stood in unity against what unfolded last week in France. The
opportunity at hand is to rethink how we express ourselves so that the world
around us has the ability to grasp our satire so everyone can learn from what
just happened so it doesn’t repeat itself. Yes, this is rather naïve mindset
but it’s time that we see that tolerance of opposing views of life must be at
the forefront if there is to be peace in the world.
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