Sticks and stones may break my bones....

I remember my parents telling me this when I was younger and though there is a lot of physical pain that is caused from fighting, those scrapes and bruises are something that do eventually heal. However, the verbal abuse that so many people face in their lives is something that a person is never able to overcome in their lives. I know this because I was a person that was picked on when I was younger because I was a big girl and I still don't have the kind of self-esteem that many other people have.

I read this saying a while back, when i was young and i believed it. But later on i realized, and from my own experiences too.. that sticks and stones can hurt, but words hurt more since they hurt our emotions and it takes time to heal.

Hello :). It's a lie, a hopeful one but still a lie. When your parents discover that you are being verbally abused, they tell you this in hopes you can make it a reality, and suffer less. A good intention but, as you said, useless. The real problem is that, since everyone believes they are good, no one wants to give the real advise of "use the sticks and stones till they shut up". In the end, no matter how civilized we believe people are, we all only care about ourselves, which means there is no diplomatic way of stopping a bully. The only way to make it stop is to show him that his physical being would suffer if he doesn't back up. Specially verbal bullying since it seems no one pays too much attention to the victims.