Words can add clarity, or bring confusion. They can cause harm, or they can do good. How you deploy your words is up to you, but you can’t deny their incredible power.

If you’re even 2% human, you’ve probably fantasized about doing something heroic, and being praised and recognized for it. You, just an average person, quietly going about your day, is thrust into an epic situation and have to call upon your inner strength and courage to save the day: 

You are out for your early morning walk and confront a robbery in progress. After a dramatic struggle, you wrestle the knife out of the thief’s hand, and detain him until the police arrive.

You are one of the first people to arrive at the scene of a burning building. You cover your mouth with a handkerchief, and run inside to guide scared and exhausted people out through the smoke and flames.

You come upon a bad car accident on your way to work. You pull over immediately, and rally a group of reluctant bystanders to lift the car and free the person pinned beneath it. 

These fantasies are so funny because they are instantly recognizable and practically universal. If you actually found yourself in one of these dramatic situations, you would probably help⏤but would you say anything if someone told a racist joke in your presence? What about a bald-faced lie that you knew to be untrue? What about a little light gossip to cut someone down or sow conflict? These aren’t burning buildings and car crashes, but they are definitely dramatic situations that call for courage. 

It doesn’t require a knife to stab someone, and you can be a hero simply by being a responder. Speaking up when you know something is unkind or untrue is heroic in its own way, and without any doubt requires courage. It’s easier to say nothing in these situations, which is why that is the usual course of action for most people. Tests of strength don’t always come in the way that you would expect them to. If you have to ask yourself whether or not you should say something, you likely should.

You probably scan the horizon for a would-be terrorist more often than you do for a double-crossing gossip and liar. But aren’t they just as dangerous? As you go about your life, attuned to the people and situations around you, remember this simple and helpful saying: If you see something, say something.

Copyright 2023 Kesel Wilson (entirely, 100% human-created)

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