A forgotten lesson...

I owe a lot of who I am to my high school English teacher, Mr. Nelson. He's the one who drilled me religiously in my writing, so that eventually I'd be able to put together more than three words in a coherent fashion. He also gave me the skills I needed to be an effective oral communicator as well... which is a big help in broadcasting!


But one of the most important lessons I learned in 11th Grade English was that words hurt. In fact, Mr. Nelson said that the most destructive weapon is not a bomb or a gun; it's the opening that's two inches below your nose. And I found that out the hard way on Sunday.


Without going into too much detail (out of respect to my friend), I hurt a very good friend a while ago with some poor word choices. I wasn't thinking with my head... just my anger. It hurt my friend. And I felt like an ass.


I still feel like an ass even now. Granted we're back on good terms; but I didn't realize the full scope of my ignorance and my hurtfullness until last night.


You remember the phrase "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?"


I have a one-word response to that... BULLSHIT.


Guess I need to retake 11th Grade English... Anyone have Mr. Nelson's phone number?