Word Choices

While I miss many things about being a teacher, there is one thing that I don’t miss at all. As a matter of fact, I feel relief that I don’t have to deal with this regularly anymore. Can you guess? I bet others who work in schools know. It’s repeatedly hearing negative, rude, disruptive, and even mean words. And all of those moans and groans!🙄

It’s not an exaggeration to say that awful comments were said to me or someone in my vicinity (think classroom, hallway, bathroom) every hour of every day during my last two years of teaching.😳 Don’t think for a second that the staff didn’t try to control the flow of ugliness. We did, but have you ever tried to control a 🌊 flood with a 🥄 spoon? If I’m being honest, it takes a toll on a person’s mental and emotional health.😞 If you’ve ever dealt with constant criticism or never-ending negativity, you know what I’m talking about.

My family doesn’t interact that way. I remember feeling peaceful over weekends or holiday breaks. 😊 I could relax when no one used a rude tone or spoke nasty words to me. Then, Mondays came, and it started again. ☹️ I’ve watched enough teacher TikToks and read plenty of educator essays to know I was not alone. I feel for my school friends because I know what they deal with daily. Thankfully, not all kids behave this way, but enough of them do. If you have kids in school, they’re hearing it, too.😢

That’s part of the reason I appreciate my new job so much. 🥳 I’m not subjected to the constant stream of foul words in this remote role. Instead, I interact with co-workers through my 💻 computer screen. Conversations are 👋🏻 friendly and helpful. Messages are littered with 😜 emojis. Not one person has groaned at me!

As a writer, part of my job is to edit and review the work of others. They do the same for mine. We offer suggestions and fix errors. You know what else we do? We share what we love! 🥰 We give compliments. We choose to use words that lift each other!

That’s the big idea here. What we say and how we say it matters. We all say the wrong thing sometimes. That’s not the problem. The problem started when 👿ugliness became normalized. We need to do better. We can turn the corner if we try.💖