Sticks and Stones

If you watch the news lately, you will see that parents are not teaching their children ... sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. For those of you who have never heard this ... it means that no matter what a person may say to you or about you, it is words and don't really hurt you. It also means that you should not respond to words with sticks, stones, fists, guns, etc.

So what if someone calls you a name or says something about you? I know that you will say "it hurt my feelings." And your logic says, if she hurt my feelings, I can hurt her body. That is not logical. For example, if Sue says "John is stupid." Is the correct response of John to pull out a gun a shoot Sue? Or is the correct response of John to punch Sue in the nose? NO!

The proper response to words is words or even better ignore it. Why should John care if Sue thinks that John is stupid? {insert any words for stupid} John should not care. John should tell Sue "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" and walk away.

Common Sense says do not respond to words that you do not like with fists or other mechanisms of violence. Common Sense says use your brain and respond accordingly.