If we honestly take a moment to step back and reflect on a time we were aggravated or annoyed, we can probably all admit to having said, at least once, “That was so retarded.” Yet, like many times in our lives, we may fail to think about the repercussions of our words. Take for example the story of a special needs woman who was skiing at Bridger one weekend this year on a bluebird, cloudless day. Seemingly perfect, until her day was ruined by two teenage boys on her bus that started to call her names. In particular, a word that started with the letter “R”. Little did the two boys know that this particular woman was a Special Olympics Gold Medalist.

Project Unify is teaming up with students at Bozeman High School in order to promote the “Spread the word to end the word” mentality that shrouds the word “retard” or “retarded”. 1500 schools in 48 states are involved with Project Unify, and out of all of those, 24 were chosen as examples to work the campaign to stop the use of the “R” word. Out of those 24, two came from Montana: Bozeman High School and Sacagawea Middle School. Kathy of Project Unify stated, “we are asking students to become aware of the hurtful and degrading connotation associated with the word retard.”

Last year there were 50,000 pledges nationwide to rid the words “retard” and “retarded” from their vocabulary and now, it is our turn. This March 3^rd, pledge to take out one “R” word from your vocabulary and replace it with another, “Respect.” By doing so, as the foundation says, “you are helping create a more accepting world for people with intellectual disabilities and all those people that may appear different, but have unique gifts and talents to share with the world.” By removing the “R” word from daily usage, we are helping make a change.

Whether you meant it in a harmless, innocent way or not, using the “R” word can ruin the day of someone who is our equal and deserves our love, support, and respect. So, BHS, let’s band together and take this pledge!