Renae+S's+OpEd+Article

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 * "If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Don't Say Anything At All" **

 ** by Renae Schultz **
If only you knew what was going on in the life of the person you just insulted. Maybe, just maybe you would have thought twice about saying those unkind, heartless words. You are no better than them, so what gives you the right to put them down. Even if you were just joking and they could not hear what you said about them, that does not justify the words that came out of your mouth. Worst of all, if that person heard what you just said about them, they would be absolutely crushed. Those are just some of the thoughts that come to my mind, the things I want to say, when I hear the people around me talk badly about others. The horrible thing though, is that we all do it. We have become accustomed to shoot down people with our words instead of bring them up with love. I don’t know why and I don’t understand why we do it but I constantly hear insults being hurled at people, whether it be serious or just a joke. Those jokes, which are supposed to be funny, are just plain rude. Why do we feel the need to jokingly insult people just to have something to talk about.. or even worse, for entertainment. We make the excuse that we don’t actually mean what we say, but what is the point in the first place? Why is there a need to make those cruel remarks, to gossip about people we know nothing about, just so we have something to laugh at. There are so many others things to talk about. Why in the world do we choose to talk about people that we don’t even know, and in the worst way possible?