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I Never Call Me Stupid Research Paper

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When I was growing up, kids generally did not monitor what words and phrases they used every day. All through middle school and high school, it was very common to hear phrases like, “You’re so stupid!” or “You are such an idiot!” While these phrases don’t seem to be horrible language, the effect they have on the receiver can be devastating. Reading about it in this chapter really brought that message home to me. Looking back, I know there were occasions when my mom said to me, “That was so stupid of you.” I totally shut down and stopped listening to them. I used to get into arguments with my mom about how she called me stupid and she would emphatically stress that she did not call “me” stupid, she said that the action I “did” was stupid! She used to tell me there was a difference, but I did not get it; now I get it. As the receiver, I heard the word “stupid” and immediately stopped listening because of the word choice. The message to me was ambiguous and I misinterpreted it. If my mom had used an “I statement” instead of a “you statement,” approach, I would not have felt like such a failure and stopped listening to her. A lot of arguments could have been avoided simply by her rephrasing her statement to something like, “I am so frustrated…show more content…
Recently, when reviewing a structure fire, where four firefighters were injured, to determine what went wrong, it was ascertained that the firefighters were injured directly due to miscommunication between the firefighters inside and outside of the building. Had the firefighters spoken clearly and carefully about what was going on with the fire, it is likely that no one would have been injured during this fire response. I am now much more conscious about how I phrase my verbal speech, especially when dealing with fellow firefighters. Speaking clearly and specifically can be the difference between life and
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