Words hurt. I think the main problem is that people are oblivious to how harmful their words and actions are. They could mean it as a joke or not even realize how much it affects the other person. Or, they could just be unhappy with themselves and be straight up mean to make themselves feel better.
It doesn’t even have to be verbal abuse,
it can be any outside force adding stress or affecting someone mentally. The
bottom line is verbal abuse often goes unnoticed or just kind of gets brushed
away. It’s not treated in the same manner as physical abuse. When in reality,
verbal abuse can prove to be much more damaging then physical abuse. I am not
diminishing the severity of physical abuse; I am just trying to shed some light
on an issue that is often overlooked.
Picture this. You walk into class one day and see a kid who is usually cheerful and talkative sitting by themselves and being quiet, maybe you even notice they seem sad or worn down. What would you do? Probably nothing. Every one has bad days right? Give them their space and hopefully they’ll be better tomorrow, it’s not your business. Many of us can notice someone is behaving differently, but unless the confront us first we do not ask about it or try to cheer them up. It’s more common just to give them space. It is the complete opposite with physical damage however.
The next day you come into class and see a usually cheerful kid, being kind of quiet and to themselves and notice they have a black eye and busted lip. Almost everyone would confront this person and ask what happened and make sure they are okay, taking action. There are different actions taken for these different scenarios because of the physical markings. So what if every time someone was verbally or emotionally abused, something appears on his or her body.
For every insult that really hurts someone, a bruise appears. For every rumor spread that gets back to a person, a deep cut. For every time you are made fun of or left out, a broken bone. Anything that internally hurts someone and affects their day negatively leaves a mark somewhere on their body. It would have to be instant too.
If people learn to view verbal and emotional abuse this way, I feel like it would decrease significantly. Not only would the actual emotional abuse decrease but people would learn to care for each other more and lift each other up. Usually if someone visually sees they are causing pain to someone, they will feel worse or will stop all together. Someone could call someone else fat as a joke, but as soon as they see that black eye form, they instantly apologize and say they were out of line and only kidding.
However if they didn’t see the black eye form, they wouldn’t think anything of it and would continue their day while the other person hurts and thinks about how fat and pathetic they are all day. Verbal and emotional abuse often go unnoticed and this is detrimental to mental health and to relationships overall. I think everyone ought to think before they speak because in my life, verbal abuse has proved time after time to be far more damaging and longer lasting then being held in a head lock or smacked across the face. Learn to care for each other and be there to pick each other up.
