Week 10 entry
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.
Oh, wouldn't that be nice if saying it made it true?
But it doesn't. It doesn't make it true for "This will be the day I clean all the things," it doesn't make it true for "I'll just have a bite or two of this cheesecake and then stop," and it most certainly doesn't make it true for that little nugget of pseudo-wisdom up there. We teach the phrase to children, proudly offering it to them to hold up as a shield against their playground bullies and the angst of oncoming teenage drama.
Let's face it, though -- we'd be better off giving them a little lace doily as a shield instead. At least then, they could throw the doily at their tormentor as a WTF, did he just throw a doily at me?! distraction while they made a quick escape.
Words most definitely can, and do, hurt people -- words can in fact cause a more pronounced, deep, and lasting wound than many a weapon. Words can be so precisely fine-tuned, so specifically targeted to pierce right through to the heart of a person and wound them in ways which seem nearly impossible to recover from. How many of us have memories of insults from childhood or our teenage years that burn to this day, even if that's ten, twenty, thirty years later? I would bet some pretty serious coin that the answer is "All of us."
What we should be teaching our children instead is that yes, people will say hurtful things to you in the world. These words will sting and cut, you will reel back from them in surprise, and at times you will will sink into a little heap on the floor and cry at the pain. But here's the most important point, and the point we should teach to our kids so much more than the traditional phrase -- words have an exceptional power to heal as well as to hurt. They can be a salve for another's wounds in ways nothing else can. A simple "Let me help you with that" or "I care about you" can be a spark of hope for friends and strangers alike as they struggle with their own dark moments. Trust me; give it a try.
See what sticks you can break, what stones you can help ward off for those around you. You just might be surprised.
This is my entry for the tenth week of Season 8 of therealljidol. The prompt this week was 'sticks and stones.' As always, thanks for reading.