I felt the need to write another post on manners. So . . . here goes.

If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. 

Now, I don’t know about y’all, but growing up I heard this from my mama and most other adults in my life about 5 billion times a week it seemed. Those weren’t all directed at me, mind you, but it was a great reminder throughout my childhood. It became engrained in my mind as much as John 3:16 or the Golden Rule, and though I may choose in my meanest, angriest moments to not follow this advice, the common principle behind it is applied to much of my interactions with others to this day. So, why this chat on the aforementioned statement in bold print? Well, I think it has a link to what I wanted to discuss today, and that is:

Differences aren’t license for ridicule.

I know, I know . . . there will ALWAYS be people who get their kicks from tearing others down. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that. But that’s not what I’m talking about. See, people in the Gluten Free Community (myself included) fight on a regular basis to have our intolerance/ allergies/ Celiac Disease recognized as a real problem. You see, most of us didn’t choose this life style. We HAVE to eat this way in order to avoid a plethora of unsavory symptoms, which luckily are mostly preventable simply by following a Gluten Free diet.

Therefore, when people mock us for eating a certain way so we don’t get sick . . . it’s quite offensive. You see, 1 out of every 133 people suffers from Celiac Disease and even more people have a Gluten Intolerance. Making light of their legitimate dietary restrictions is just not considerate.

That’s where the statement about not saying anything comes in. If you, or the company you work for believes that  cracking a joke about Gluten Free Living is the best way to boost laughter or page views, you may be right. But, you’ll ALWAYS catch more flies with honey than vinegar, so why tear people down to find your five minutes of fame? All I’m saying is that the next time you’re thinking about cracking on joke about Gluten Free living, or telling your coworker it’s a made up condition, think about this statement first: