365QOD- Day1068

Bulling Others

“A teacher was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform.  She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up BUT be careful not to rip it. 

Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it  was.  She then told them to tell it they are sorry.  Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all of the scars they left behind.  And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. 

That is what happens when a child bullies another child, they may say they are sorry but the scars are there forever.  The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.”- Anonymous

I read this story as if it was written on a crumpled up piece of paper.  It moved me and helped me realize the importance of our words.  We have the right to say what we believe BUT that does not mean that it will not cause scarring of the other person at who the words are directed.  Reality is that words can be smooth or leave scars behind that no matter how much we apologize for will never go away.

To me, it seems that we need to slow down, use a pause, and think through our words more than with do.  We should not be in a rush to respond and simply listen and respond a bit slower.  The damage we could cause will be reduced by adding a simple pause button.

I realize that this story is about children and the words that they use and things that they do.  BUT I believe that these types of actions occur in work places all of the time.  Maybe the visual is enough to make us slow down and think twice before we hurt others.

Today’s question is:

“Are your words leaving scars on others?”