Dissociated Thoughts

Be Kind

Written For "Blogging Circle of Friends "  Day 3188 Aug. 6, 2021

Prompt: "Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance, and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun." - Kent Nerburn. Write something this quote makes you feel.

          I like the reminder to be kind, not just to others, but to ourselves. The second line explains that we never know what is going on in the lives of others to cause them to be where they are or how they are. But we still affect people by our words and actions whether we realize it or not.

Back when I was still teaching, I assigned my life science and biology students to perform an experiment to see how words and attention, or lack thereof, can affect the growth of plants. We had a control group, which only received basic attention: watering, lighting, etc. but the plants did not get spoken to in any way or touched by the students. The second group was placed into a different room where it received the basic attention however, the plants were spoken to negatively and I allowed students to place mean notes (such as I hate you) under those pots. Our positive group, placed in yet another room, were given the same general care but were also spoken to gently and lovingly and the students were instructed to caress the leaves and stems of the flowers. Positive and encouraging notes were placed underneath those flower pots as well. All plants received the same amount of water daily, the same lighting, and were in the same potting soil. How did it end? After the month-long experiment, all plants were brought into the classroom and examined next to each other. Those receiving the positive care (and words) were larger and had more blooms than those of the other groups. Those that received only basic care were average in height and had fewer blooms than those that were spoken to positively but they were more healthy than those that received negative attention. The final group, those that were spoken to negatively, were stunted, beginning to wilt, and had very few flowers. After studying the plants for a while, I asked my students what they learned from the experiment. One girl in my biology class spoke up saying, "Words really can hurt but they can also help. It depends on what we say." Another student said he didn't realize the damage that could be done by bullying people. They all thought the experiment would be a joke and wouldn't show us anything. Life proved them wrong. I drove home the point I was trying to make that if our words can do that to plants, imagine what it is doing to everyone we interact with.

Maybe the kids got it, who knows. While I was blessed that year with a lot of really good kids, even they didn't realize the effects their words had on people and things. So, just be kind. To others and to yourself. Every part of ourselves, mental and physical, is interconnected - and words can either hurt or heal, just like actions. Choose them carefully.

LeJenD'Poet - Just ME