Words Matter

I passed a game of pick-up football yesterday.

A bunch of boys playing.

And as I walked past, one kid missed a tackle and was slow to get off the ground.

"You're so gay! You're such a homo," his teammates taunted.

Ugh. There is still so much work to do.

We have to start at our dinner tables with real talk to our kids about the impact of language (i.e. "don't say this sort of stuff because...")

By refusing to laugh at (or make!) that joke, by calling out the hate behind the laughter. And that is just the start of a larger work.

There can't be psychological safety at work, at home, in front-yard football when we continue to dehumanize the "other".

Empathy matters. Language matters. Let's become better together.

PS- this is a stock photo, not the real guys