Think before you Speak
Punya Trivedi*
About the day before Christmas (24th December, 2009) I was waiting for a bus on my way back from visiting a Super Target Store in Roseville, Minnesota (U.S.), I saw an interesting poster at the bus stop?
Which said “That’s so cheer-leader who like, can’t like, say smart stuff”, that grabbed my attention. Then below it I saw a mention of a website called “www.thinkb4youspeak.com”, On reading the poster further I got to know the campaign is all about “Think before you speak”, I was really curious to know about it, I visited their website, and then I realized the whole purpose of this campaign.
Which to describe in a sentence “It’s simply amazing”
Why this campaign?
On April 6, 2009, an 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hanged himself after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother's weekly pleas to the school to address the problem.
It was at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying during the 2008-2009 school year.
I hope by now it should be clear, why this campaign?
Well it’s not only in U.S. such things are happening, its everywhere around, ragging and bullying has become a common thing, be it a school, college or in corporate life.
Teasing is good, but upto a limit, beyond that, it could hurt someone’s emotions. Hence buddy, “think before you speak”
It’s said a word said, is like a bullet fired, can’t be stopped. However if you say something bad, then certainly its impact may be made less by apologizing.
The site is very rich in content, it explains commonly used word’s in teasing like “Gay” “Faggot” etc, with contexts, they are by way of posters (which one could easily take print outs) in additions one can upload video’s of your stories on the site (Those stories or songs which are uploaded are really heart touching)
It also has got a separate section for parents of affected kid’s as to what they need to do in order to help their child and prevent him/her from taking a wrong step.
It also has a section for educator’s where they have made a guide sort of thing, which the teachers could use and instruct their students.
Must read for all?
In short “Think before you speak” since your words may hurt someone badly.
E-mail: punya.trivedi@irisindia.net
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