An incident occurred today as I was walking along the pavement of the road. Two men were exchanging words that almost led to a serious conflict between them. What transpired between them was that one of them who happen to be a bike rider mistakenly hit the other who was walking along the pavement of the road, instead of him to apologize calmly, he insulted the man he hit saying “kai wawa ne” in Hausa language meaning “you are a fool”. The man that was hit and insulted got upset and they begin to exchange words and almost fought each other if not for people that gather and calm the situation.
Sometimes the words that comes out of our mouth can have a serious impact on someone. There is power in the tongue and that power can either mend or destroy someone’s life if not properly use. As humans, we are bond to face situations that may cause us to utter words we are not supposed to say, that doesn’t mean that whatever comes to our mind we just speak it out. Before you utter any word, always examine yourself, your emotional state. Are you emotional stable? What could be the impact of that which you are about to say? Is it going to have a positive impact or a negative one? For instance, when you are angry, the best thing to do is to remain calm and think. In a state of anger, your emotion is tense and it will be very difficult to gain control of your thinking. Anger may cause you to respond with hurtful or abusive words. You may end up even spilling out things that were supposed to be a secret. When your words are going to have negative impact on someone life, the best thing to do is to be silent and remain calm. It can be very difficult but it’s not impossible.
When the words you are using or about to use can temper and destroy your friendship or relationship with someone, remain quiet. It is not all the time you are expected to speak. When you speak too much, you may end up making mistakes with your words and may say things you are not supposed to say. You may end up destroying your friendship or relationship or even someone else relationship when you can’t control what comes out of your mouth.
When you cannot talk to people calmly and respectfully without shouting or yelling at them be quiet. Personally I don’t give a listening ear to someone that shout or yells at me when talking to me. Some people don’t mind you correcting them, it all depends on the tone of your words. If you know you can’t talk to someone respectfully and calmly or the tone of your words is going to be offensive, just remain silent.
There are moments when listening is more preferable than speaking. Listening to someone calmly when they are talking to you will give you an insight on how you can respond back to them.
So chose you words rightly, examine your state of emotion at every giving moment before speaking. Always remember this, freedom to speak is allow but freedom after speaking is at your risk. You can say whatever you want to say now but remember whatever repercussion that follows will be on you. You can't take back what you said so carefully examine what you are about to alter before you open your mouth and criticize, condemn or say anything.
Peace
Joash