There has been one statement that I have heard throughout my life almost daily. “Think Before you speak,” something my mom has said since I was around the age of three. Thinking, in my opinion, is something that has really been lost in recent years. The problem of just speaking before you speak is something that is not restricted to one particular area, rather the whole world.

This problem is global and to change the way that people go about speaking with one another it is important that we are cognizant of what we are saying. Words are powerful and although the argument that words cannot hurt you has been around, we know that this is not the case.

We see this with our very own, President of the United States, who has no problem voicing whatever he speaks on Twitter. Social media is something that has definitely changed the way in which people are able to speak with one another. It’s a platform that can be really good when used right, but when abused, social media can be quite problematic. Twitter, in particular, is something that often gets abused.

Again, the President obviously has no problem saying what he thinks about whoever on the website. As do other people who are considered important such as celebrities and political leaders. The example of this concept of being able to say whatever anyone feels like at any moment is driven by these people of “importance,” because those are people that the world looks up to.

Social media is easy to voice our opinions on because you don’t have to be in a present and real life engaging conversation to say whatever you want online. As we know, this is the concept behind cyber-bullying. Saying whatever we feel like, while a perk of the US Constitution, is always not the best thing to do.

We need to take into consideration what kind of effects our words have on others. Although freedom of speech is something that is important, it’s also a right that should be respected and we shouldn’t be abusing this right to put other people down.

I’d like to share a piece of advice my mother gave me while we were having a conversation about the effects of people saying whatever they want and feel like. She told me, “Before you say something, think about what kind of consequence that thing you’re saying might have on the person you’re saying it to. Then think about if that consequence is a positive one and if it benefits both parties in the conversation by saying it. If you answered no to either of these considerations, you probably shouldn’t say it.”

This is probably one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received. I have made so many mistakes in life because of not thinking before I speak. It’s something that is so easy to change, but I disregard it because it seems trivial. In reality, it is important to think all my words over before I just say them.

If we all took the time to just take one moment to consider our words, our interactions with others would be better. We wouldn't regret saying things that were meant to not be said but were because of lack of thinking about them. I struggle with this reality often, because I think about all of the times that I could have said something different and how it might have benefited my relationship with someone else.

Thinking is something that the world is lacking in recent years. Maybe if everyone took the time to think before they said something, there would be more peace in the world. I'd like to become better at this skill to have better conversations with the people in my life, and people who I interact with daily.