“BE kind, for everyone is fighting their own battle”, is a quote that is often repeated and recited among the youth but it is never really put to practice.
I didn’t realise this until I discovered that some of the things that I had been openly slamming, actually applied to some of my own friends.
You could be saying something as simple as “God, I really hate the name Brian”, and the person beside you could have an uncle called Brian. This of course, is a harmless example, but it can get a lot more serious.
A lot of the time, we can all be living in our own little worlds and saying things that we don’t see as offensive, but could be incredibly offensive to someone else.
When I hear people discussing different subjects now, or even when someone might mention a particular word, I am immediately on alert if I know someone who could be offended.
The other day, someone started to openingly slaughter something that was quite important to me and I didn’t say anything about it. I should, of course, have said something, but you are putting everyone involved in an incredibly awkward situation by doing so.
The person doing the slaughtering will usually blubber some sort of apology and then the room goes so silent that, you are left with nothing to discuss but the weather.
Obviously, you can’t censor everything that you say. If that was the case, we wouldn’t speak. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone is entitled to speak their minds.
It would just make sense to me that we consider the people around us, because you never know what that particular person is going through.
You never know what their home situation is, you don’t know what their life situation is and by making a simple comment could send their confidence spiralling downwards.
I don’t know if you have ever had your confidence ripped from you, but trust me, it sucks.
I have become very self aware of the people around me. Not so much so that it stops me from talking about what I want to talk about, but I just don’t say it in a way that makes it seem like it is the only opinion in the universe.
You may never know what people are going through, but isn’t it better that instead of either screaming about it around the town or whispering in street corners, that we just express your views in a way that is harmless.
You will save people a lot of headaches. I know that you may think that you are just helping the pharmacies by forcing people to grab another panadol, but maybe not in this case, trust me.
