Mary Magdalene by User:Vassil (File:Sépulcre_Arc-en-Barrois_111008_12.jpg) [CC BY 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons
There’s an old playground saying that we used to bandy around a lot as children:
Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me.
I said it a lot to all the bullies who laughed at me for wearing glasses, and reading lots of books, and hating Barbies, and sport, and bullies, but I never believed it. Unkind words can hurt me far more deeply, and more permanently, than mere physical things. So here’s my version:
Sticks and stones only break my bones, but words can really wound me.
