Are you hurting anyone with your words?
“Aisi baani boliye, man ka aapaa khoy.
aurahun ko sheetal kare, aapahun sheetal hoye.”
Who mustn’t have heard this famous couplet by Saint Kabir, which emphasizes on the importance of the art of polite speech – Speak in a manner, says the couplet, that your speech brings calm and happiness to the ones listening and the same effect it has on you.
Time and again seers, philosophers and wise men have elaborated on the power speech carries, which if positively directed can – heal, motivate and educate. While if given a negative course, it has the power to devastate and hurt far more than a sharp sword. Wounds formed by bitter words are much worse than physical wounds. They don’t heal with the recovery pace of our physical body. Rather they heal with ‘mana’ or heart’s capacity of forgiving, and mind’s capacity of forgetting.
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Unlike physical wounds these invisible wounds don’t bleed or leave a visible scar but the harm incurred can be much deeper. Powerful enough of – affecting one’s personality, bringing permanent change in thought pattern and creating mental health issues.
Such exorbitant is the price that one has to pay for someone else’s irresponsible speech!
Another noteworthy point is, that the deepest wounds are created by the words of the ones close to us, whom we love. Where in most of these cases the speaker doesn’t even has the intention of hurting the listener to such a deep extent.
Most casual arguments between people who are close, advances to both (or one) unleashing bitterest of taunts and comments on each other’s personal life, not realizing that the venom spurted during this temporary episode of argument can result in long lasting acrimony.
The question remains that if only the wounds caused by our impolite or inappropriate words were clearly visible on the listener’s body, would people still continue to speak in the same manner?
No, a large number of people won’t!
Leave aside being rude to their loved ones, people would even start practicing polite and appropriate speech with passer byers, house helps, store staff, their subordinates and so on.
So, wouldn’t it be good to judge our words by how we would feel if the same words were spoken to us? This simple exercise can reduce our chance of hurting others to a great extent. With regular practice this becomes our habit.
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On the other-hand it’s worth remembering that bitter and inconsiderate speech not only hurts the listener but it also harms the speaker. A person who is spoken with rudely either instantly reverts back in equal or even worse manner, or else breeds a negative emotion for the speaker which sooner or later shapes into a negative action, behavior or speech.
With enough written above, I can’t think of a better concluding line than the timeless golden wisdom – ‘THINK before you SPEAK.’