Dec 01 2008
Sticks and stones
May break my bones, but words will never hurt me. We are all told that as a child, and when made fun of, we might say that to the offender. We teach the children in our lives to say the phrase- or believe it, at least. We have learned it and we teach to be a defense mechanism. It is something to make us feel better….but it’s a lie.
Words do hurt, far worse than physical pain in my opinion. This is the type of pain that causes injury that a bandaid cannot fix (at least not a literal bandaid). I have been both physically abused and emotionally damaged. On the physical side of the scale, I have only one scar on the outside of my body that is left. Beneath the skin surface, there are old fractures in my bones and I will never again breather normally through my been-broken-too-many-times-nose. But I don’t feel physical pain from the physical abuse anymore. On the opposite side of that scale, you will find the emotional damage. Notice I did not say ‘emotional abuse.’ It was, but the outcome- what I have to live with every day- is that I am emotionally damaged.
I have been told, by people that I loved and trusted, that I am fat, I am lazy, I am an embarrassment,a failure, a disgrace and that I am disgusting. I have been literally compared to a cow- body part by body part. And, I have been told that it is all my fault. Each of those words have hurt far worse than a broken nose, a broken thumb, stitches, a fractured elbow or any variety of the slaps, punches and kicks that my body has felt. The physical injuries have healed. The emotional damage keeps coming year after year.
So, I have to say….sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt me worse.
