Since I'm retired now, I have the opportunity to watch daytime TV. One new show that I enjoy is
The Talk. Five, sometimes six, women chat about current issues, life as a mom, and they have visitors on the show. I like their style and their friendly chat.
Once in a while, though, there are things said with which I disagree and to which I want to respond. The two incidents I can recall involve host Sharon Osbourne. Once, when asked if her husband ever did such-and-such, what would she do -- her response was "I'd kill him." The way she says it is kind of cute. It even makes people laugh. In fact, right when she said that, the camera focused on a woman in the audience saying to her friend, "I love her!" I think that's because of the cute factor.
I really think we need to be careful about such statements. Our society is already way too violent. It may seem like a silly, off-the-cuff comment, but these things add up and people (specifically, children) learn from what we say.
It's important to watch our language.. it helps define who we are and how we behave.
Today, while discussing the Arizona tragedy, Sharon said that if any of her kids did something that terrible, she would feel so awful about it, that she would kill herself. What?! In this age when we have such a teen-suicide problem, and we want them to know that there are other options when one is in pain, I feel that her comment was a very bad example, and hurtful.
SHE needs to model that life can be survived, pain can be overcome. We need to let our kids and our colleagues know that suicide should never be on their list of options. Help is available.
I wanted to leave this message for Sharon at
The Talk website, but I couldn't figure out how to do so, other than to Tweet something, and I don't like Twitter.
What do you think? Am I being overly sensitive, or do you agree that we need to be careful with the words we say?
