Last week my family (extended, 25 of us)  went on vacation to my favorite place in the whole world..........



My immediate family

The BEACH!!!!!

Now I have a great family, 2 brothers, 2 sisters and their children and my parents.  But what you need to know about my family is that we are a bunch of smarty pants.  When we get together there is much joking and laughing,  and with that comes.... S A R C A S M

So early in the week we decided that each time someone make a sarcastic comment, they would have to pay a fine and put it in this jar.

We had many laughs as we waited to catch each other making yet another sarcastic comment.  We were amazing at how effortless these remarks just flowed from our mouths.  After a while we all headed to the beach and forgot about filling the jar.  But what it left me with is how, in the name of humor and joking, sarcasm can get out of hand and peoples feelings can be hurt.  Sarcasm can be a very bad habit and damaging to those around us.  We can think we are just having fun, but words are powerful and can leave lasting scars.  It is not true that, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me".  Words do matter and just saying, "I was kidding", does not void the offense.  It reminds me of a proverb, "death and life are in the power of the tongue".  I don't know about you, but I want to be a broker of "life" and not "death".  I am purposing to watch my tongue and it is not as easy as I had hoped.  But... I am trying.