Do you remember the childhood poem,
“sticks and stones can hurt my bones
But WORDS will never hurt me”?

That is DEAD WRONG!

All we need to do is look at the number of teen suicides caused by verbal bullying to know that words can not only hurt but they can KILL the spirit.

Verbal abuse is very real and unfortunately it lives at the highest levels of society.
Todd Aiken, with his attack on women and “legitimate rape” is but ONE instance of very hurtful words. Can you imagine all the women who were raped by family or “friends” and women who were date rape victims, how badly those words must have hurt?
It is hard enough to resolve life after rape, now they have to wonder about life after “is my rape legitimate” thoughts?

The words we ALLOW to fall out of our mouths can break our connection with people we love and people we say we respect.

One of my favorite quotes from the Buddha refers to our speech. He summons us to check our spoken word against these four questions:
1. Is it true?
2. Is it kind?
3. Is it necessary?
4. Is it an improvement over silence?

When we speak wisely and with compassion we extend to all humanity the respect that they deserve.
When we speak with empathy we show our humanity to the world.
When we choose to disrespect then pretend that we did not mean to offend, it is disgusting.

Let us speak with dignity and respect for ALL mankind and that certainly includes women.

Love and light
Indrani