The deadly joke

It must have seemed a good idea at the time - try and kid your way into access to the the big royal baby story.  Not expecting to get through, and definitely not expecting a deadly result.

But the death of the nurse who answered the phone and put them through - Jacintha Saldanha - calls us all to take notice. In the track record of media pranks it was one of the milder ones, but what does it say about our society?

We are happy to tolerate jokes at others' expense but a prank on a friend who you know, and can assess how they might take it, is very different to invading the life of a stranger.  Had another nurse picked up the phone that day the whole story could be very different and without the tragedy. 

But we all need to be responsible for the power of our words, and that goes not just for the radio show but all who shared the story, all who added to the crowd pressure. It is one thing to feel humiliated about something that went wrong in work, another to know that people all around the world are talking about it.  It may have been an extra straw in a vulnerable life - but it was one big straw bale to land.

One of the biggest lies I was told as a child is 'Sticks and stones will break your bones but names can never harm you'. I have no idea who first told me this lie, but it was just there throughout my childhood of name calling and exclusion by classmates. But it was not anything to make a fuss about - it was only names after all, I wasn't being beaten up day by day so not really bullying....  Except it was, and the power of words to reach like lasers into the deepest parts of your soul and being is worse than the stratches of mere sticks and stones.  (Though they rarely come without the emotional abuse as well).

Any bully, and any who have been bullied, can know how even the apparently innocuous greeting can be imbued with layers of aggressive intimidation - but how do you report someone for saying hello to you?

Back to our radio prank, what seemed merely amusing to some, can have affects way beyond intentions - we cannot know the impact of our behaviour or words especially upon those whose lives we don't know.  So we all have responsibility to take care in how we interact.  We don't need to take the full responsibility for a lifetime's conditioning but we do have responsibility to keep a check on our own words and actions.