One of the great things about America is the freedom people have to speak their minds. So, what happens when freedom of speech that was meant to empower the lives of others ends up breaking them?
On Sept. 1, around lunchtime, a man stood outside the University Center shouting at students walking by.
“Repent!” he screamed through his megaphone. “God is judging you! You are going to Hell!”
Students gathered around and began screaming rebuttals to his statements. Anger stirred in the air.
“Do you feel like you are accomplishing something with this?” I asked him. “Yes, I am spreading the word of God,” he said.
The First Amendment says that Congress cannot stop people from speaking freely, or withhold “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”
However, he condescendingly shot down anyone who had any sort of rebuttal. He was the only one able to really speak – in effect, he was stopping others from having their freedom of speech. This is not peaceable or the word of a loving God. It is far from freedom when someone takes words and uses them to abuse and silence others. It is entrapment, a prison that puts the listeners in bondage.
He didn’t respect the words or ideas of anyone else around him. So why should they want to hear what he had to say? With the power to speak comes the responsibility to listen.
What motivated him to speak such harsh words? Perhaps he acted out of only emotion and didn’t think things through. Perhaps he really thought God wanted him to say what he said. Perhaps he was just an extremely motivated individual who didn’t let any barriers hold him back.
Looking at the people around him, though, any person with a set of eyes and a heart could see the damage his words brought. Shouting didn’t change people in the way he intended. There was a message that was being said, and that message didn’t hit the audience like it could have. That message could have been beautiful if told in a different tone, with different words.
Words are an important tool that can hurt others if not handled with care. Individuals are free to speak what they please. But with those words spoken come great power. That power can have not only positive effects, but also negative ones. Words cannot only build up a nation, but can tear it down. The split-second when you decide whether or not to open your mouth is crucial. One word can cause ripples through the world around you or stick with another person for a lifetime.
Before we get carried away with the freedom that has been given to us, perhaps we should think more before our words are actually spoken or written down.
