Weigh Your Words

Side with Roseanne. 

Demand the Chew also be “fired”. 

Whatever…

I still love ya!

Just don't go barefoot in your cowboy boots cuz ain't no one got time for that kinda stink.

But seriously....

I believe in freedom of speech but I also believe in the right of an employer to terminate an employee who doesn’t align themselves with the mission and vision of the employer. I also believe there is a gift in every ugly situation and that gift is the lesson learned or the take away. My take away from all this publicity is that each of us needs to weigh our words carefully.

I cannot teach my children that bullying is wrong and still amuse myself with social media photos and videos of people different than myself (intentionally not naming them, because I see absolutely no reason to call attention to their bad behavior – you know what I’m talking about). I cannot teach my children to love themselves if I look in the mirror and criticize my body or call myself names when I make a mistake. This goes for anyone. It is twice as important for those of us who put pen to paper. Yes, we can later apologize for hurting someone’s feelings or for something coming across the wrong way, but in today’s social media world the truth is: once it’s out there, it’s out there. The damage is done.

I don’t think we necessarily have to sit idly by and stifle our thoughts about particular sensitive topics. I just think we need to consider carefully what we are putting out there. We need to weigh our words carefully. I’ve ranted about things and later found out I hurt the feelings of those I would never want to hurt. It’s an awful feeling. I suggest that we ourselves read and re-read our words and then if we are in doubt, have someone else take a look at them. This is where a writer’s group may come in handy. Taking it to the group gives us some different perspective but also allows us to “sleep on it” as my daddy would say. The time and perspective may help us say what we want to say in the way we wanted to say it without hurting others.

If there is no place in our schools for bullies, there should be no place in our homes either. I challenge each of us to do our part to weigh our words carefully so as not to hurt others. Another quote from Daddy to end this little piece is this: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. He’s been gone nearly 30 years and this advice (as well as plenty more) still seems pertinent.

We would love to hear from you. So here are some questions to ponder – leave your answers in the comments!

**What’s something someone said to you as a child that is still sound advice today?

**Have you ever said anything on social media and regretted it? 

What did you do to try to remedy the situation?

**What advice do you give to your children or family members 

concerning social media and cyber bullying?

Hugs,
~Crystal

PS – I think you’re all pretty fantastic!

Crystal is a council secretary and musician at her church, birth mother, babywearing cloth diapering mama (aka crunchy mama), business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Publicist with Dream of Things Publishing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, five young children (Carmen 11, Andre 10, Breccan 4, Delphine 3, and baby Eudora), two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, and over 230 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal riding unicorns, taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books, baby carriers, cloth diapers, and all sorts of other stuff here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade!