As I was driving to work yesterday, I saw something that caught my eye. Someone had permanently screwed a white board onto a telephone pole at 82nd and Quaker, in front of the Starbucks. While that's weird enough, its what is written on the sign that's wrong.

Ethan
Ethan
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First off, let's talk about the fact that someone took the time to get a drill and at least attempt to permanently attach a dry erase white board to a public telephone pole. I don't know who you are, but that isn't your pole. And whatever you're selling, I'm pretty sure most of us don't want it.

When I saw this sign, I had to pull through the Starbucks parking lot and back around to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. I did.

I don't know if the person that hung the white board is the same as whomever wrote the offensive message. I don't care. I just care that whoever wrote this message learns a lesson that the "R" word is not OK. Also, if you're going to try to insult someone, learn how to spell, you idiot. While you should never call somebody a "retard" because of how horrendously offensive it is, you should also know that the actual word "retarded" doesn't have an extra 'a' at the beginning.

In other words, even though I would never insult someone by calling them the "R" word, the only mentally challenged person here is whomever wrote this offensive message.

You should think of the "R" word the same as we do the "N" word. For all of our friends and family that are differently-abled, that word is as offensive as it gets. Whether our neighbors are challenged mentally or physically, none of them are "retarded," and I don't ever want to hear anyone refer to ANYONE this way.

A person's development can be retarded due to a number of factors. But retardation is an action, a verb, and not an insult. You insult all of humanity with your ignorance when you use it as a slur. Be better than this, please.

Oh, and can someone please just take this sign off this pole? Thanks.

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