Think Before You Speak

The words fly out.  The letters fly from the fingers so quickly on the keyboard.  Every day we comment on so many Facebook posts or perhaps even news articles, but do you really think before you speak?  Its far too easy these days just to let the words rip, with little thought to what happens after we hit the send button.

I try hard to not speak or write before I think and yet I know I'm not perfect either.  I've learned the hard way that sometimes the innocent words that you don't think about, often do long term damage to others.  It can alter relationships of people we generally interact online only.

Do you ever stop to think though just what a person may be dealing with in their day?  They could have just learned that someone they cared deeply for, passed away.  They might have some unexpected bill hit them, leaving them wondering how they would endure.  Maybe the boss just treated them like dirt and had no compassion for them, leaving them wondering why they are spending another moment in their job.

Our words can help others and they can hurt others.  Our words, whether spoken or written can be our greatest asset or our biggest liability.  How many times have you seen someone say or tweet or post something only to have to defend those words later in life.  How many times have you seen words come back to haunt someone years later, leaving them destitute.


In this day and age, it is easy to say or type a response, but these things are recorded for a long time.  They become part of who we are.  They become our persona.  They become who we are to the outside world.  Exactly what do our words say about us as a person?

To the people who have to endure the comments and thoughts and posts or tweets, it may be a day that devastates them so much, they barely recover.  Sure, they might regain their footing and we're not necessarily responsible for the actions they may take, but why would we want to add to their misery?  Why would we want to be an instrument in pushing them into something they may later regret.

Think before you speak, because if you do this, it might just become a positive force in the life of a person you may or may not know.  Think before you speak, because if you do this, it might just become a positive force in this world.

We already have enough people who don't think before they speak and it isn't hard to see the effects.  There are enough rough days and horrors and evils in this world without adding to them, even if it is in the smallest way.

Let today be a day where you think before you speak.  Let today be one where you make a positive difference in the world around you through your actions and words and thoughts.

Think before you speak!

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Blog Post And Images (c) 8/8/14 by Don Shetterly

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