Quote From: mark15 Children or not, words hurt. We were always taught "sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt us". As many times as that was recited to me in school as a response to sharing my pain with adults, it never helped. In fact, it made me wonder what was wrong with me because the verbal bullying DID hurt and i would have easily chosen the sticks and stones (though, those weren't eliminated, either).
In the past, the only difference between childrens' defamation and adults' was that children would do it to your face...adults would do it behind your back. The internet evens the platform...and either way, it hurts. The internet removes any risk the bully may have had on the playground: The teacher isn't there, the parents don't know about it, the victim can't point him out, and the bully can pretend the victim is a faceless cartoon character without feelings, thus removing what little guilt he may have felt in person when he looked into the crying eyes. He doesn't see the result of his actions.
Telling others "we don't need to take what every one else thinks and says about us to
heart... when someone does try to tell us that we're fat, ugly, stupid,
dumb, etc." doesn't lessen the pain. Eating disorders are spun from painful words. School shootings have been spawned from verbal pain.
It doesn't matter why they do it, how they do it, where, when or who does it...it hurts EVERY VICTIM. This is why the Bible does have so many references to hurtful words. God knows how much it hurts others. The tongue is sharper than a double-edged sword.
Encouraging as your post may be...and it is...telling us that we shouldn't hurt from gossip and slander is like telling a crash victim that his broken leg shouldn't hurt because the person who hit him didn't mean it...was mad at the world...or whatever excuse that is made for the driver who hit him.
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I've never heard truer words than what you've stated here tonight. THANKS FOR THAT.
