How You Say...

This was an essay i had to write in English Comp. II. The assignment was write freely about what you belive in, or something you live by. This is on both.

Growing up, my father was not really one to talk to me voulntarilly, but I could still go to him if I had something on my mind. All I had to do was go into the kitchen and ask. He spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, baking, chopping, and all that, but he was almost never to busy to chat. I could sit on the rickety barstool, and ask him about super powers, and he would awnser my questions thoughtfully, and thurogh.

One of those occasions, I was having an argument with someone, and was upset about it. I told my father about it, but he told me he was not going to get involved. I was upset and needed his help, so I continued to tell him about it. Maybe this was one of his bad days, or didn’t get much sleep last night, but he put his utinsel down in the pot, turned to me, and leaned against the counter. The look on his face almost scared me, as if he were about to tell me to get lost. Instead, he told me “Micah, 99% of all problems start from a simple misunderstanding,” I thought about it for a moment, and he was right. Then he said, “It’s not what you say to someone that is misunderstood, but how you say it.” Once again, he was right. I couldn’t help but to smile a little from what he just said. “Your tone says just as much as the words themselves.”, he finished. He then turned around to finish cooking. It was amazing to me, but all of what he told me was true. Tone says just as much the words themselves. Yelling to someone about something is only going make matters worse. People get angry, and irrational, then things can easily be misunderstood. These words of wisdom from my father, are applied everyday. Fellow students, friends, co-workers and so on. I never want to be misunderstood, so I choose my words and my tone carefully, then try to keep the peace. When someone obviously misunderstood, I stop myself, and say, “Wait a minute, that didn’t sound right. Ill rephrase it”. So many fights have been prevented by taking the tone down, thinking about what to say, and discussing the matter civilly. Even in my script writing, I apply this belief. Dialogue is by strongest point, for that very reason.

So, if I were ever to win an award for my dialogue editing, my father will most defiantly be in my thank you speech. With out that event, and my father being there to give me such words of wisdom, I would not be the same person that I am today. Id much rather watch my tone and words, than have to watch my back for people who misinterpreted something I said.