Sticks and stones may break my bones... but words will never hurt me.
The first time I ever heard this was on the playground of my elementary school. I can't seem to recall whether it was a classic game of tag or an intense "show me your best cartwheel" competition from which the saying derived, however... I do remember becoming increasingly aware of the freshly packed wood chips beneath my light up sketchers. It made sense to my 6 year old mind. Sticks can be felt. Stones can be felt. Even these tiny wood chips can be felt.... but words? No.
They're completely intangible
Over the course of my life, I've become just as brutally and painstakingly aware as the rest of us that even though it was cute in Cinderella, my feet were never meant to wear glass slippers, and regardless of if I have a good voice or not, animals aren't going to come clean my room for me when I sing. I've also come to realize that just like the majority of the outlandish ideas that come from our childhoods, more things hurt than just sticks and stones. Words may not break our bones, but they can sure shatter our hearts. But the good news is that our hearts were never meant to be hidden from the power that is found in the honesty of words. Hiding may seem like the easiest escape route from this generation's group of cliché cyberbullying mean girls, but honestly, it does us no good.
Because, when we shelter ourselves from the piercing pain that words may cause us, we also hide ourselves from the hands of a real God who's ready to heal our hurts.
We can't hide ourselves from the hurts in this life unless we are willing to hide ourselves from the sweet moments, too. And who wants to miss those? Words are absolutely intangibly tangible. No, you can't touch them but, regardless of what anyone may tell you, you can without a doubt feel them. I know it hurts whenever you hear that friend, who you thought you could trust, talking about you behind your back, but darling don't you know how fiercely you are loved? Don't let the words that others say hold you back from fulfilling the desires of your heart.
Sticks and stones may be able to physically disable you, but emotional pain can only defeat you if you give it the power to.
It is inevitable that at some point in our lives, we will each make some sort of impact. Whether it's on a person, a community, or even the world isn't necessarily up to us. But we can decide what kind of mark we're going to leave. So I want to encourage each of you to be kind. In the midst of a world that encourages mean behavior disguised in the forms of high school "roast sessions" and indirect twitter drama, its time we fire back with some kind, encouraging words. We never really know the people around us or what they're dealing with. Words can hurt. But, they can heal too. The way in which you use them is purely up to you, and you alone; but just keep in mind the kind of impact your words could make.
Let's make our time here on this earth count for something substantial.
