My husband, Charles, may or may not have lost a friend over making a stand for what is right. His friend, in a post about being angry at spammers, called people a whole lot of names, using the hurtful term "mental retards" as a slur, grouping people who are handicapped along with people who are con artists.
Charles pointed out that using that term is hurtful to those who are challenged, and to the friends and family who love those individuals. (Including myself, as my brother is challenged, and we have people in our family with other disabilities.) I gather this friend huffed and puffed at being confronted, but this is not an issue either Charles or I take lightly.
You don't use people's disabilities as a slur. You don't make fun of people with disabilities. It's mean to verbally kick someone for something that they cannot help. I know that though I refer to myself as someone who is crippled, I'd be very hurt if someone mocked me for being such....and Charles, my Celt, would be livid. (They would regret the encounter, I can assure you.)
It's not hard to be kind. It's not hard to be decent. It is not hard to refrain from mocking the disabled, the outcast or the broken. We need to be careful of the words we use, even when speaking (or posting) in anger...for those words can travel and wound. When we are cruel, even thoughtlessly cruel, we diminish who we are as a person....it only shows our less than ideal side.
We can all be better than that. Instead of tearing people down with what you say....build them up. Instead of being hurtful....be loving. The world has enough cruelty in it, let's strive for understanding and kindness.
And if you see or hear someone being cruel....take a stand and say something. Silence doesn't end ignorance, it only allows it to continue.
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