A friendly tongue matters!

Have you ever heard your tongue? Yes Tongue! You must surely know what a tongue does. It not just helps us with taste and food, but it helps us in speaking. It lives in your mouth and stays very busy.

Your tongue is muscles and blood with the ability to move in different directions and perform various jobs. Underneath your tongue is the mucous membrane (mew-cus mem-brane) which keeps the tongue wet, and a lot of blood vessels providing the tongue with fresh blood.

You can speak because of your throat and the movement of your tongue. Have you ever noticed your tongue? Stand in front of the mirror and observe how smooth it is from underneath and how rough it is at the top.

These bumps on the tongue are called papillae which helps in licking food such as ice cream. Papillae has taste buds for picking up different tastes. Salty and sweet are in the front, whereas sour taste buds are at the sides, and the bitter ones are at the back of the tongue.

However it is not just a matter of touch and taste with the tongue, but a friendly tongue matters. We should use our tongue wisely. It should not hurt anyone with the words it



speaks.

The tongue has the power to lead. When you listen to your teacher giving you directions in a nice way, you follow her. You are convinced that this is the right thing to do. This happens just because your teacher chose her words wisely and kept them in the right tone.

Tongue has the power to destroy. Let’s take an example of when you tell a secret to a friend of yours. Your friend starts shouting at you telling that you did the wrong thing and say harsh words. Would you ever tell a secret to your friend again? Definitely not!

Tongue can make friends and Tongue can make enemies. If you speak kind words and help others with your actions you will make friends. On the other hand if you use your tongue to show your anger and say bad words about others you can never have real friends.

What should we do then? Think before you speak. Pick your words wisely and only then move your tongue. Ask Allah to help you, be kind with others so that your tongue and your actions don’t hurt anyone.

Stop complaining about yourself, your friends and anything at all. Be Grateful and appreciate the good things around you. You will feel the difference!