They say there are rules to the Internet. On the subject of making comments, an acronym was created to remember the respective rule: D.O.N.T., which stands for don’t comment. You will regret it. There is a proverb from South Africa that can be used in place of the acronym: “a word uttered cannot be taken back.” The proverb speaks for itself. Think before you speak, be it online or face-to-face. Simply, anything you say represents you, and you will probably end up regretting if you don’t consider it first. Many people already know how important this proverb is. Most of society puts thought into their words, but that doesn’t always save everyone from the occasional lie. In some cases, it can cause catastrophe. The importance of living by the
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The story tackles issues involving bullying and cyberbullying, and incorporates this proverb’s lesson into the narrative. It starts with face-to-face scenarios. The narrator befriends a rather toxic group of people, who turn to make fun of one of her other close friends, saying things like “he is such a blimp”(Polacco 24). The characters don’t think about what they’re doing, or the feelings of those around them. They don’t consider that their actions will have consequences. They simply say what they want without thought. Later, they take to the Internet to harass people. The narrator is involved in this, and she doesn’t like it; “all I could think of was how this would make me feel” (Polacco 26). The narrator begins to regret hanging around these people, and thinking about what they won’t: other’s feelings. They make horrible comments online about whatever they wanted. They believed they had the protection of a computer, but ultimately things go wrong for them. All of this comes back around to the narrator in the end. While talking to her friend, the target of harassment, she hits a realization: “he knew. I began to sob” (Polacco 27). He had known that it was the people she was hanging around that made those comments about him online. The narrator had regretted being around those people. Trying to be involved with the “cool” group ended up backfiring on her. Bully describes the proverb’s lesson fairly well, and it is a rather important lesson to
The story tackles issues involving bullying and cyberbullying, and incorporates this proverb’s lesson into the narrative. It starts with face-to-face scenarios. The narrator befriends a rather toxic group of people, who turn to make fun of one of her other close friends, saying things like “he is such a blimp”(Polacco 24). The characters don’t think about what they’re doing, or the feelings of those around them. They don’t consider that their actions will have consequences. They simply say what they want without thought. Later, they take to the Internet to harass people. The narrator is involved in this, and she doesn’t like it; “all I could think of was how this would make me feel” (Polacco 26). The narrator begins to regret hanging around these people, and thinking about what they won’t: other’s feelings. They make horrible comments online about whatever they wanted. They believed they had the protection of a computer, but ultimately things go wrong for them. All of this comes back around to the narrator in the end. While talking to her friend, the target of harassment, she hits a realization: “he knew. I began to sob” (Polacco 27). He had known that it was the people she was hanging around that made those comments about him online. The narrator had regretted being around those people. Trying to be involved with the “cool” group ended up backfiring on her. Bully describes the proverb’s lesson fairly well, and it is a rather important lesson to