Mocking, Reflections & Words

Today’s card is from a very special deck. It’s an oracle deck, but so much more. It’s from Schiffer and it is the Inspiration for Survivors deck. It’s very uplifting.

I chose this deck and this card very intentionally today. Sometimes I pull randomly. Today wasn’t one of those days. You see, I read this letter to Ann Coulter from special Olympian John Franklin Stephens. He took offense at a word she used against someone. Ann Coulter tweeted this:

“@AnnCoulter: I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.”

He responded with a letter to her which you can read here (and I highly recommend that you do read it):

I’m not going to delve into the politics of this. I’m going to talk about why we must remember that we are reflections of each other.

When you mock a skinny woman, you don’t know if the woman sitting next to you fought and won her battle with anorexia.

When you mock a fat man, you don’t know if the man sitting next you has a father who battled obesity.

When you joke that your friend should ride the short bus, you don’t know if the person next to you puts their beloved child on that short bus every school day.

When you gather your girlfriends to exchange catty gossip about that slut at school, you don’t know if she uses sex to replace the love she never receives at home

You can’t know.

You should think about it though. You should think about how you want to be reflected. Is your reflection in others one of kindness and caring? Is it one that encourages them to lift themselves up?

I am not trying to shake a finger so much as offer some thoughts on why words hurt. You see, I lived with a young man who was called a retard on a regular basis. He rode the short bus. He was mentally challenged. But you know what?

He understood what retard meant. To him it meant “we don’t like you because you are not like us.” And it hurt him.

Retard.
Fatty.
Skank.
Slut.
Cripple.

How about:

Differently abled. Needs love. Looking for friends. Needs kindness.

Choose your words. Consider jokes you send out. Are they funny or do they mock someone for being blond or a Yankee or or or?

I am not perfect. I find Yankee jokes hysterical. I should be kinder to the regionally-challenged.

I am not perfect. I gossip. I mock others.

I simply try not to do those things.

I simply try to be better than my reflection.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Inspiration for Survivors, Schiffer Publishing, 2012