Words: and when not to use them

It was exam time in college and a student had discovered to her consternation that she had forgotten her Hall Ticket at home. Flustered and agitated, she went up to the teacher in charge and confessed that she had forgotten her hall ticket at home. The teacher shrieks at her, "What??????Are you an LD? How can you forget such things?" and the other teacher pipes up, "She hasn't forgotten to wear matching slippers and nail polish, but these things she forgets!"  An LD, is a term that educational and other academic institutes use to characterise those with Learning Disabilities. And all the time, the child is standing there in a state of mindless panic, wondering where to go, and who to turn to.
The English text book that I teach my Higher Secondary students contains a poignant and heart rending account of the daily battles the mother of a child with learning disabilities has to face, to get her child 'accepted' as part of society, as we know it. She talks about how she felt vindicated, and that all her efforts were worth it, when the school her son went to, as well as her own family circle came to realise that her son  was truly 'differently -abled.'  He came home from a sports meet, apparently, with so many trophies, that she herself was flabbergasted. She recalls how she hugged the child and burst into tears.
It requires a lot of sensitivity and many examples to illustrate this piece of life, teach this lesson. But I feel that every effort is worth it, when I look around my class room and realise that a group of 70 odd teenagers, are sitting with rapt attention, listening to every word. And I know that it is a small victory for me, as a teacher. Because I know, that these kids will be a little more sensitised and a little more helpful to those who need help.
I have heard teachers say, in my hearing, "He is mad!  He doesn't know something as simple as this!" And I have cringed with shock and embarrassment, when I have heard the words some people use to describe a girl (student) who is slightly more fashionable than her peers in college.
"Put it on my head," I was told, when I asked one of the college co-ordinators for a space to store some of the attendance forms I had collected from students.
And worst of all, is that curse, "Go and die!" to a very innocent question about what a student should do, because he was late for a lecture.
Words have power. Words have sound and fury and they signify a lot of things (with apologies to William Shakespeare.) Which is why they should always be used carefully. If you cannot but use words hurtfully, because you are angry, or irritated, it is better not to use them at all.
Perhaps everyone who plans to be a teacher, should take a compulsory course in Communication skills. Perhaps that would help them be a little kinder, a little more circumspect with words.