Say Something Nice

Say Something Nice

This year, the class of 2017 graduates and more importantly, senior year is finally over for students in my grade. It is a well-known fact that the last year of high school is the most stressful, especially for Korean students. Only after I passed my interviews for college did I realize what all the stress did to my personality. I got irritated very easily and had no patience to listen to others. Moreover, I would refuse to do anything bothersome because I was so used to using the excuse, “I can’t; have to study.” I felt the need to fix myself, starting from the words I used. I tried to consistently rephrase my sentences into the nicest words I could think of. I started adding things I usually wouldn’t say such as “Thank you so much” and “pretty please”.

When I began to mind myself, I started seeing that not very many people used polite words in conversation. Nor were people thanking each other and being as grateful as one would expect. I knew it was none of my business but I would unconsciously add a thank you or please to other people’s conversation in my mind. I also discovered that people who used their words delicately seemed much more gentle.

The power of words is far greater than regarded. So here is my statement: since there is nothing to lose, would it not be better to deliver the same message in a more civil manner? If I added a simple word of appreciation, would it hurt? Or would it make both me and the counterpart feel somewhat better? In a country that ranks high in far too many negative poles and that uses a language which is infamous for its overabundance of curse words, how refreshing would it be to hear someone say something unrequired, unforced and yet so kind?

If you think you already have a courteous vocabulary, why not find at least one compliment to each person you meet? It is a fact that no one in this world hates receiving a sincere, well-thought-out compliment. It is still the beginning of the year, if you haven’t finished adding things to your new year resolutions list or failed already but want to try again, how about trying this idea out? You never know what kind of impact it will have but one thing is for sure, it will be a valuable one.

Department of English literature

Chun Se-hyeon