Kindness is Important, Actually

Honey and Bread by Duane Keiser

 "Kind words are sweet to the soul like honey." 
- Proverbs 16:24

Growing up, my mom always told me that if I didn't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all. Personally, I think everyone's mom should tell them this at some point, but not everyone's mom did. This is clearly evidenced by the way that people talk to and about one another nowadays. 

If you open up Instagram, I can guarantee with absolute certainty you will somewhere on your feed see a person saying unkind things about someone. It could be someone they disagree with, or it could be their best friend, but chances are someone's saying something not nice. It's not even limited to social media, though. People in real life are constantly talking bad about each other, being rude, and degrading other people. 

I am not totally innocent in this. I would like to say that I've never said something that was mean, but then I would be a liar. But the difference here is that some people think about what comes out of their mouths before they say it, and others have no regard whatsoever for whether what they say is hurtful to people. I find this highly annoying. 

Believe it or not, you should care about how your words impact others. Saying someone's outfit is ugly might be a funny little joke that makes you seem cool and superior to your friends, but actually, it just hurts that person and makes you look immature. On a far more serious level, celebrating someone's death might seem like a strong political statement, girlboss move, but actually, you're just hurting the family that is facing legitimate suffering and disregarding the value of human life. 

Even if you do think it's a joke, which is usually people's excuse for why they said the hurtful things that they said, it's not a joke that's funny. You can be rude or unkind to be funny, but it's not actually humorous in any way. And just because you didn't say it with the intention to hurt people doesn't negate the fact that someone did get hurt.

Your words do have power. You can pretend they don't, but they do. I think sometimes people devalue their words. They feel as though they're unimportant or inexpensive, as though they have no impact. In reality, they're one of the most valuable tools that we have. Your words can cut deep or build up, and it's up to you how you use them. 

I'm sick and tired of people being unkind so flippantly. I'm sick and tired of people saying it's not that deep. It is that deep. If you walk through life thinking it's funny to hurt other people, it is that deep. If you walk through life not caring about other people, it is that deep. We need to start taking responsibility for the things that come out of our mouths, and we need to start caring about the way we impact others.