words can hurt

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me!

I'm rubber, you're glue! What ever you say bounces off me and sticks on you!

     When we were young we said these things in hopes that our feelings would be spared from the cruel playground insults kids throw around, having no idea how much they hurt the person on the receiving end.

     I've always been sensitive and I've never been a name caller. I figured out at a very young age that if I hurled insults there was a very good chance people would hurl insults at me.  I'm not saying I've never ever said mean things. I've always tried to avoid saying mean things to others just for the sake of being the winner of an argument or dispute.

     As nice as it is to think, "They are only words. They should not hurt me." Because they aren't actions directed at us. Or we might think, "It may be what they said, but that's not how they feel" because we're with the person enough to know how they feel about us.

     I may be more sensitive than others (and even more so since I got sick) but I think most people would agree-  words can hurt.

     Let's reverse it. How many times have you said something you regret so badly you can almost see the words coming out of your mouth but it's too late to do anything about it? The words just dangle there in mid air almost amplifying how wrong they felt to say, and, for me, anyway, how much they hurt to say.

     One big problem is that we get mad or sad or embarrassed or hurt and we lash out verbally, using an arsenal of words more dangerous than we're thinking of at the moment.

     Hopefully we can all practice saying really, really nice things to everyone we know, and, in a heated situation take a step back. No need to be there. ( "I really love the way your voice gets higher when you're angry" works for me, but maybe not in an argument).

Instead of words hurt we can have words make happy and words heal.

peace and love,
sunee