Thursday, December 16, 2010

Wise Words

One day, as I was soaking in the bathtub and pondering the complexities of the universe, I stumbled upon two old sayings that, in my mind, contradict each other. The first is this:

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.

It seems simple enough: if you have not been physically harmed, then you haven't really been hurt at all. Shrug it off and go on with your life. It's a fairly effective way to get kids from retaliating against others who have been mean to them. The second, however, goes like this:

The pen is mightier than the sword.

Many a politician, businessman, public figure and child have felt the truth of this statement. Personally, I tend to subscribe more to the second statement than the first. I believe that words can harm a person deeply. At the same time, words can often be easier to heal from than a physical wound.

So now I'm curious. What do you think?

2 comments:

Terri Griffith said...

I am definitely more in the camp for the second saying. I think words do a lot of damage and can affect a person for the rest of their life.

Anonymous said...

I think the first is more a suggestion about what our attitudes should be and the second is a description of how the world works. i.e. true that words can be more harmful than physical wounds, but the best attitude to have about other people's opinions is to choose carefully whose matters, and instead of having hurtful words actually wound you see them as unimportant or possibly an opportunity to evaluate your behavior. Obviously, easier said than done.

Also, the pen is mightier than the sword is, I think, more of a sender saying than a receiver saying. As in, as someone who wants someone else to do something, it will always be more effective if you can persuade that person to do it on their own rather than coerce them through force. (Also, I decided to answer your last several reader questions, are you excited?)