James Baldwin

"Sticks and stone my break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is the anthem of children. A protection, a mantra against the ones against them. Taught by teachers trying to prepare those children for not only one or two phrases, but instead a world that does not just say words but instead carves them into our cerebral cortex. Piercing away at ourselves and who we say we are. But while that is all good and noble where is the "You have broken bones so you say words to hurt me" speech? When is it ok to say that the responsibility should not be on the victim? I misspoke those children are not victims, only casualties of an internal war that does not involve them. So do we just give aid to the veterans and ignore their cries of PTSD or do we ask who is the real enemy that caused it in the first place? Is there any way to say to these conditioned children that "The fight exists and you were in the middle of it" without them assigning themselves responsibility? Those who throw words got them from someone else. No one knows how to hurt, it is learned. So how do we stop the process of gaining those weighted words. Maybe it's when we say "Sticks and stones may break my soul, but words will damage the soul". It's when we offer those stones and throw them into the river.
-Yandely A.