Essay Draft

Judgment and the power of Words (Draft)

Dear Reader,
In the United States and in the world today there are many harsh and hurtful words that are spoken not just amongst enemies, but in the close circles of friends and family.
I have noticed, as I have grown, that sarcasm is creeping into our systems. Sarcasm seems to be all that anyone will ever use when having a conversation; I myself use sarcasm a lot. I know sarcasm seems cool but sarcasm hurts. It not only hurts other people but us as well. Sarcasm is often what keeps our relationships with everyone around us from flourishing and being better. It kind of creates a barrier between loved ones. Sarcasm is also really confusing sometimes. If you want to communicate effectively than do not use sarcasm. It can be very damaging to someone, even if they know you are joking, sometimes it is taken personally and then that person could, depending on the sarcastic joke, be self conscious for the rest of their lives. You never know.
One thing that has always bothered me is how judgmental everyone can be. Stop putting stereotypes on people. I have always been told; don’t judge a book by its cover. You really have no place to judge how good or bad a book may be by the cover. Likewise, do not judge a person by what you see them do or hear them say. Everyone at least once in their life has judged someone or put a stereotype on someone. For instance, have you ever said, “Oh she is a cheerleader, she is stuck-up, she is a bad person, she is blonde, she can’t think for herself”? Believe me most cheerleaders are not like that in real life. But still people stereotype cheerleaders with, stuck-up, blonde, and stupid. I don’t know where that came from but it certainly does not fit the descriptions of my friends who are cheerleaders. Other common stereotypes include, Nerds, Jocks, and even racist stereotypes sometimes appear in our judgments of people. Don’t judge. Don’t stereotype. It keeps you from ever even trying to befriend someone who you judge as, “totally different then you”. You would be surprised how many great friendships can evolve from getting past that stage of judgment and moving on to the stage of acceptance.
If people learned how to use words better and learned how to use them for good, then we would have a better world. The whole start to ‘World Peace’ is to teach everyone how to use their knowledge of words and the powers of words to bring every nation together. It is absolutely necessary to teach this next generation and the generations to come about the effects their words can have on the whole world. If we are want to pull through the time of crisis ahead than we need to train the next generation how to utilize the powers they have within themselves, and how to put it forth for the better, for the good of our country and other countries. This seems kind of far-fetched but I really believe that this is truly where we need to start. It all starts with one word.
A concerned citizen.