You Dodo Bird!

You Dodo Bird!

©Allen Merritt (2015)

While watching a movie yesterday I heard something I had not heard in a long time; the phrase “dodo bird.” It got me to thinking. My mother used to call me a Dodo bird from time to time. As a child, I never knew what that meant. She also frequently used the word “poosty” telling me I would understand one day.

To clarify and put this into context, let’s take a look at the meaning of these two terms.

A Dodo bird is a special breed of feathered friends that could never fly. It is known as the flightless bird and is now extinct. I discovered the word “dodo” refers to the idea of a dull-witted, slow-reacting person.¹ In a word: stupid or dumb. Kids might even use the term retard.

According to urbandictionary.com, dodo bird refers to a living creature with very noticeably low intelligence. Interestingly, the dodo bird lived in complete isolation and had nothing to fear. ²

“Poosty” is another story. For a long time I thought the word “poosty” was a term of endearment. Unfortunately, it has negative connotation meaning stuck up or snobby and in some cases is a derogative word used to describe a homosexual. You might as well call it a curse word. Whether or not these words were intentionally used to hurt or not isn’t the point of this discussion. Sometimes we aren’t attempting to be deliberately hurtful; but, sometimes we are!

As a child, sometimes ignorance and naiveté serve to protect the innocent from hurtful phraseology. However, as we grow older this wears off and pricks at out emotional bloodstream. Thus, the old adage sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me becomes a defense mechanism that seldom works. I will never truly understand why my mother used these words on me, but looking back I understand how detrimental it is to use negativity toward a child. It has a profound impact and most children do not nor will ever understand. They grow up with a complex built around such negativity. I had to learn about this first hand in order to gain a stronghold on it and rise above such antics. I realize I was subjected to being told repeatedly how undervalued and idiotic I was. In other words, I was worthless and would never amount to anything. As an older teenager I took matters into my own hands. I realized I did not represent such a person and I did have value in this world. I attribute this to my ability to be resilient. Many people do not possess this natural ability, which is why I decided to focus on psychology in college. Name calling generally does hurt the recipient.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about how political correctness has hurt our society in that it causes people not to be direct, use straight talk, tell it like it is and so on. People have begun to behave without a filter and shoot off their mouths no matter what the cost or who gets struck down and hurt in the process. Unfortunately, this demonstrates a level of unprecedented violence.

I see this as not being mindful one with another and the inability to communicate effectively, because when you know how to use manners, appropriate behavior and responsiveness you are able to address any given situation in a peaceful and mindful way.

In terms of turning these types of situations around and building on the idea of positivity, I would recommend not labeling others, painting them into a corner or using derogative language toward them in any form. Think of it this way: wouldn’t it be better to build someone up and help them grow, develop and understand rather than jump to a conclusion and leave them hanging or feeling bad about themselves?

I’m not suggesting we sweep concerns and issues under the rug, but think twice about how to move forward and go about it.

In a nutshell, my discussion stems from a childhood memory, but directly speaks to the idea of seeking out positive results and promoting positive initiatives. I believe that when this ideology is seriously considered as a way of life it produces a win-win situation for everyone. What do you think?

Positivity creates a new brand of relationship and communication. It prevents purposeful bullying, name calling, belittling or degradation. It promotes psychological well-being. That can’t be all bad, now can it?

Consider it.

Promote it.

Let’s win-win together.

Cheers!

www.thejunglestore.com/dodos¹ (Viewed on 8/27/2015)

www.urbandictionary.com² (Viewed on 8/27/2015)