A loop

It was in the middle of a class conversation

that a student said

"yea its like when I was called a loop"

"a loop" I replied?

"Yeah Mrs Whipple....you know a loop. Like girls get called loops, they loop from guy to guy...basically calling a girl a slut".

And I looked at this beautiful 15 year old girl

with a knot in my throat and said

"you have to believe you are not another person's words....you believe that right?"

she shrugged and then looked down at her iphone

because do we really believe that we are not?

It all goes back to the age old phrase

sticks and stones....

sticks and stones hurt just as much as words

and words hurt without measure.

But that is just the thing

they aren't just words

they can be others perception of

YOU

YOU the person that is supposed to be most natural 

the person that is supposed to love you despite the bad

the person that is supposed to catapult yourself to success.

When there is a belief in the words of others

confidence can be shattered.

I feel as though the older and older I get

the more I am experiencing 

problems with words.

Not just in others

but my own as well.

How do we cure our language and our expressions

so that the understanding 

stands

that words are not just words.

They cost something.

The price of words should not be cheap,

words are feelings 

and they carry a weight

heavy enough to reach the depths of our souls. 

Words should we like well thought out purchases
considering all options
before picking the shiny new car.
Too bad society doesn't have time or interest to complete the market research
on words

As teachers we can lead by encouragement, and example

but we can't do enough to fix the sadness in kids

not all kids

not all the time

and not enough to shape

their perceptions of themselves.

 To solve the problem entirely...I don't know
it seems

the best that we can do 

is to share words 

that make the hurt a little less

the weight a little easier to carry.

So I leave you with this...

As we worry about the economy

or the government

or how our many minutes we have to relax in a day 

take a minute

and worry about someone else,

Don't
be
cheap 

don't save your words up.

Spend them all on someone who needs them 

Wrap them in a positivity

encouragement

admiration 

love 

and celebration 

And maybe just maybe 

they will "loop" back around.