Tag: sticks and stones

No name calling

.Reading time 14 minutes.

“You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit with a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” | Acts 10.28, NRSV “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  A childhood defense against taunts, […]

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Sticks and Stones: What race will never hurt

.Reading time 3 minutes.

There is a childhood chant, a buffer against bullies that I was taught as a child: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  The words came to mind yesterday but they had changed a little: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but race will never hurt me.” To […]

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Forgiving Words

.Reading time 4 minutes.

“And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” ~Luke 12.7 “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  Parents teach their children this simple rhyme that is in fact a complicated lie to inoculate them from the painful experience of being teased or bullied or to prepare them for […]

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