Riding the Short Bus: Learning to cope with the words of others

   This a picture of the bus that comes and gets Cullen in the morning and brings Cullen to school. The bus is a godsend an absolute blessing, before we would have to drive to his school in the morning ( a twenty minute drive) and back then drive back at noon. All the back and forth driving was killing us in gas costs and some days he would not be able to go because we had no way to get him there. The bus is equipped with straps so he cannot get up and wander around the bus also has an assistant on board to help with the kids. The bus is small ,a large bus would overwhelm him with all the noise and kids. So guess in the simplest of terms you could say in fact that Cullen rides the short bus.
   Of course this term has been taken to mean something derogatory. Someone who is not smart, someone who cannot catch on as quick. Of course I heard this term before Cullen but it did not truly offend me until now. I always new it was not nice but the other day I heard someone say "he is riding the short bus if you know what I mean." And I felt my blood run cold.  I wanted so bad to say something about choosing ones words, about how offensive that was. Instead I kept my mouth shut I cannot speak up every time someone does something I find offensive towards him. Every time someone gives him a mean look in the store, every time someone's uses the word "retarded."     But I can not remain silent anymore, we as a people need to choose our words more carefully. We need to stop being so negative instead of using words to tear people down we need to be building people up. I am as much at fault as anyone, I have used words that I regret now. As a teenager I used the word "gay" as a catch all word for everything I did not like. I regret my words now and worry over the people I may have offended with my careless words.
   I have heard people complain about how politically correct we are getting. How freedom of speech is not being honored, I am not urging people to censor themselves. I am urging people to be kind, you never know what other peoples circumstances are. You can never know how the words you choose will affect other people so be kind always.