Parents and teachers the world over have a saying that borders on a reigious mantra. I goes something like this: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words..." well, you know the rest. Personally it offends me to even complete that statement, it Brodie is so offbBase that it takes higher education and "sensitivity training" to actually believe it. No one who has been teased or taunted, excluded from a group, or outright harrassed could take that "advice" as anything but an insult. I know that it may sound somewhat extreme, but the behavior of people who suffer severe harrassment often suffer from symptoms reminiscent of post traumatic stress disorder.
It may not seem like much, but to children, even the basic torments of other kids can be psychological torture. If I may offer a bit of personal, anecdotal "evidence," I was teased when I was younger. A lot. At least once a day, sometime before school usually at recess, I got tormented for how I looked, that I read too much, who my friends were... Just about everything. I was told repeatedly by my parents and teachers that I was to turn the other cheek, that retaliating was unacceptable. Of course, the others never got in trouble, after all, it was "just words." To this day, when I think about it, it still hurts me. Just words, and twenty years later, it still cuts me deep.
If I had punched one of those kids in the nose, or pushed them down, they would have been better in a few days. If I had actually broken bones, they would have been better in a few months. I would have had to have actually mutilated them, paralyzed them, or killed them to still affect their lives. So, a bloody nose for a few days is still worse than psychological damage for two decades? Can this really be true? Brodie Panlock might not have thought so. I'm not saying that violence is THE answer, but it's time we acknowledged that mental abuse can easily be worse.
It may not seem like much, but to children, even the basic torments of other kids can be psychological torture. If I may offer a bit of personal, anecdotal "evidence," I was teased when I was younger. A lot. At least once a day, sometime before school usually at recess, I got tormented for how I looked, that I read too much, who my friends were... Just about everything. I was told repeatedly by my parents and teachers that I was to turn the other cheek, that retaliating was unacceptable. Of course, the others never got in trouble, after all, it was "just words." To this day, when I think about it, it still hurts me. Just words, and twenty years later, it still cuts me deep.
If I had punched one of those kids in the nose, or pushed them down, they would have been better in a few days. If I had actually broken bones, they would have been better in a few months. I would have had to have actually mutilated them, paralyzed them, or killed them to still affect their lives. So, a bloody nose for a few days is still worse than psychological damage for two decades? Can this really be true? Brodie Panlock might not have thought so. I'm not saying that violence is THE answer, but it's time we acknowledged that mental abuse can easily be worse.
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