We're All Human

I wanted to comment on this for a while now, but due to hashing out a battle with this blog I couldn't sign in till now. I mentioned class last week about Obama's comment about Special Olympics in a joke on Jay Leno last week in class. When I first heard of his comment I was driving in my friend's car and I felt so hurt and let down by Obama. Up until this point he was virtually a perfect leader in my eyes and the radio had said "I guess the Democrats can finally take that!" And I began to think about this with a friend, how yes this was the first "slip up" on Obama's part that we've seen thus far. I began to think about what he had said, but more importantly on what I have said as a student about to become a Special Education teacher. Just the other day I said "what are you retarded!?" to a friend and I am embarrassed to admit repeating it now. I can't imagine someone taping it and putting it on national television! There are so many times that I say things because they have been droned into my everyday language. I remember back when I was in Elementary and I used to always say "that's so gay" until one day my mom had said to me "do you realize what you are saying?" and we had a long discussion over it. Thinking back to what Obama said, I sympathize more with him now than scold him for what he had said. This only makes him more human, like someone pointed out in our class last week. More importantly, what he said has forced me to reexamine what I say everyday and to alter the vocabulary that has been associated with my language for so long.