Bully

    When someone uses name calling, it has lasting repercussions. No matter how quickly an apology is made, the words never go away. We can hear them inside our heads for years to come. If the person who said them is a family member, it is especially hard to forget even if we do forgive.Those words can become part of a tape that is played over and over in our minds and is difficult to erase because it becomes part of who we are.
   We all know that we should describe the behaviour, not the person, especially when we are angry or frustrated. Some of us know that the best way to talk about what we are feeling is to describe those feelings i.e."I feel.... because...." In the heat of anger sometimes those tools are neglected or even forgotten. None of us are perfect.
    Calling a  typical person "a retard" just makes the person who said it look bad. When someone calls a person with special needs "a retard" that person becomes a bully; someone for whom the feelings and dignity of the other person have no value. When I think about that, I feel angry because the person who calls an additional needs child "a retard" is behaving in a cruel and thoughtless manner that goes beyond the mere utterance of the word. They should look in the mirror and decide what and who they are. Are they a bully or are they not? On second thought, some names really fit, don't they?