SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD

I don't think anybody reads my blog anymore. Which is okay because most of it is journally stuff, BUT today, I wish EVERYONE read my blog. 

I HATE the r word.  For those of you who don't know what the R word is. Retard. I hate it. I have told a lot of people, mostly my friends, who have used it in front of me that I find it offensive.  They usually say sorry and that's that. But really the entire word is derogatory and rude.  I don't understand how people justify it. Usually people will say "I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning for it be rude."  How else is it to be meant?  March 7 of this year is R-Word, SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD day.  I have pledged to not use the word (I pledged a long time ago actually).  Will you pledge? Click here if you will pledge.

I think the reason it bothers me so much is not only because I have a child with Down syndrome but because I use to use that word too.  I wish that I would have been more aware of how offensive it is before I was thrown into the Down syndrome world.  I feel like I have let down my child or offended him by my previous actions before his birth.  I shouldn't have to be directly connected to someone in order to not use an offensive word.  I don't know if this is making sense but other bloggers and stuff have such a way of writing. They have huge examples of when the R word has been used in movies/tv/etc.  I'm not good at writing so I guess my point for this post is this....

SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD. I pledge!!

There are some excellent links on this website, I encourage you to look around and read some of the great stories.