"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"
No matter how much I'd like to wholeheartedly believe in this statement, I can't. Words are extremely powerful and most people do not have the inner strength to not let any harmful words thrown at them hurt them. Sure there's the stupid stuff kids say with possibly hurtful intentions (Happy birthday to you! You live in a zoo! You smell like a monkey, and you act like one too!) but any smart kid lets it roll of their back after someone reminds them of the sticks and stones phrase. Most just laugh. This kind of situation is the only situation I feel the phrase is necessary and applicable. When kids (or adults) say stupid stuff and someone takes it the wrong way.I've given a number of pep talks to my little friends at The Franciscan School to not let hurtful words bother them. Some of them bicker like teenagers already and I just have to pull them aside, ask them (somewhat) rhetorically if that is how Jesus would talk to His friends, and remind them they're better than that. Unfortunately, as early as upper-elementary now, kids are becoming more and more verbally viscous. It's hard to tell them words don't hurt, when quite frankly, they do.
Language is extremely powerful and now its hard to say anything even the slightest bit controversial without offending somebody. Holidays are a taboo subject in a lot of public schools. Remember when gay meant happy? Tons of people say, "That's so gay," and people are offended. Others say, "You're retarded," and more are offended. Words like "retarded" have become so mainstream as meaning "stupid" that the politically correct way to describe a person with mental retardation has turned into someone who has MR. Sarah Palin wants Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel fired for using the word "retarded." In my senior year at Leesville saying the pledge of allegiance became an optional thing. Apparently some people don't like the "one nation, under God" part. Atheists sue to remove "In God We Trust" from our capitol's visitor center.Words hurt. Words offend. Whoever thought up that phrase either really wanted to shut up a whiny child who cried at every little thing or was so cocky nothing could bring them down.
And I'm getting more pumped for my trip to study in Mexico this summer. I haven't picked a program to travel with yet, but I'm on my way. Applications are due in about a month!
Rachel Ray convinced me to try a new stir fry recipe.
Don't really care about the super bowl tomorrow.
I wish people would stop talking about Dear John.
And I made a commitment to practice Spanish with Rocio. : )
I don't think kids these days are viscous as that would mean they are of a glutinous nature. But, I do think they can be vicious ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know, it doesn't look right to me either!
i believe the proper term for MR now is "intellectual disability".
ReplyDeleteand i just learned the other day in my psych&ed testing class that words like idiot, imbecile, and feebleminded were actual diagnoses that just happened to slip into mainstream vocabulary.
anyways, language definitely is powerful, and it DEFINITELY has the capability to harm.
Great connections you've made! EVERYTHING these days is offensive and I'm wondering at what point will it just stop. I mean we all have a time when we just want to scream, "Get over it already!"
ReplyDeleteI've probably offended quite a few in my day (and will continue to) because I say "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays"; I use the diagnostic terms to label children and not the PC ones.
One final note: that's a pretty powerful image you got there to open up with!