It is amazing how apparently small things often balloon into huge disputes, sometimes ending in death.

There have been many examples in this country over the years. Two of the most recent cases have made the news and were reported by The STAR last Thursday. There was the case of the 65-year-old woman who was allegedly attacked by a young man over $10 which he claimed to have been short-changed after buying cigarettes in Brown's Town, St Ann.

Then there was the 17-year-old girl in Melrose district, Porus, Manchester, who allegedly stabbed a man and killed him after they had a dispute over a cellular phone.

In both cases, those of us who read the news reports and were not on the scene of the incidents only know about what caused the dispute and the eventual outcome. We can safely assume, though, that an argument intensified before it got to the stage where it could be so striking (pun intended) as to make the news.

And this is where it is incumbent upon us to use words in such a manner that they will quell the disputes we find ourselves involved in. Every dispute, no matter how insignificant the genesis, has the potential to spiral out of control and end up in a result disproportionate to the original disagreement.

We can only urge you, our dear readers, to keep this approach in mind as you go about your daily lives and encounter the numerous interpersonal frictions that are inevitable in a society where the pressure always seems to be high.