Got your attention didn't I?
"Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me."
At least, that is how the cliche' goes. However, I am willing to bet that I am not alone in saying that an emotional wound can often be more painful then a physical one. Harsh words are easy to throw out at someone when we are angry or frustrated, but once they are spoken they can not be taken back.
When I babysit and and one of the children tell me that someone said the "S word" I generally think of something a bit worse then the word stupid. I look back on my childhood and think of all the words that I was not allowed to say, "Stupid, Idiot, Jerk " I realize that these words had meaning, and they still do to some extent. Yet, as we grow older our vocabulary changes. "mature" words for mature people. We become, in a way immune to these baby terms. As we grow it seems to become more socially acceptable to use these words and they are integrated into our daily lives about people or about things, and sometimes they are used in jest. These words begin to go by unnoticed, and begin to be switched out for heavier words, cruel words that now hold the same meaning, like a graduation from nerf guns to the real deal.
. So can words hurt people? Yes, and the worst part is that the amount of pain that is inflicted depends on who pulls the trigger.
