I have one question to ask you before I begin. “Have you ever hurt someone with your words?”

If your answer is affirmative, let me tell you one thing. Words stick with a person forever; they have the power to break a person. If you come to think of it, the tongue is just a piece of flesh, yet it has the ability to ruin the strongest of relationships.

Have you ever heard the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words also hurt me”?

Well, professional wrestling is the perfect example that helps explain the saying. Wrestlers literally often break each other’s bones, leaving them severely injured with months of recovery. However, still they respect each other. Some of them are even best friends!

What I mean to say is, you can harm someone physically, but your words will always cut deeper than the wounds on their skin.

You could have verbally abused a person in the past, and even if you still are friends, believe me, they will never forget what you said to them and maybe up to some level, it still hurts them. These days, in today’s youth, it is a common misconception that if they swear, they will look cool. Not only is it not “cool”, but it also degrades the character of the person swearing, revealing who they really are from the inside to others.

Often enough, using one’s tongue inappropriately to put others down negatively impacts other people’s opinion about you. I hope one of my own school experiences can enlighten you on this matter.

A boy in my class was known for being rude. He never went through a whole day without verbally abusing someone, and the funny thing was, he had a lot of friends, mostly because people were scared of him. At the start of another academic year, we another boy joined our class. The rude boy started teasing him in class, calling him names and making fun of him.

However, one day we had a free period as our teacher was absent. Once again, the rude boy’s routine of bothering the new boy began, this time he wasn’t even discreet about it as there was no teacher present. The substitute teacher stood outside the door for a full minute just to hear the demeaning names the new boy was being called.

As a result, the mean boy was given a month’s worth of detention, his parents were called to apologise to the new boy for his behaviour and all his “friends” soon realised he wasn’t good company and left him. His words (tongue) were the reason for this.

Controlling one’s tongue is a skill everyone must have. There may be times when you get the sudden urge to say something mean to someone just so you can hurt him, or you feel like giving a response to something you didn’t like. Believe me, that is not the way to go. That moment is the real test of your true character. That is the moment you must keep your cool and stay silent. That is the perfect solution.

If you don’t have anything nice to say, then just don’t say anything. Silence is always better than unnecessary drama.

Don’t hurt people just because they hurt you. Learn to control your tongue; it can ruin everything you hold dear. Science indicates that it is the strongest muscle in the body. It’s also stronger and more affective in hurting those whom you may love and even those whom you may not.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 4th, 2021