Video Transcript:
Sticks and stones can break our bones, but words can never hurt me. Wrong!
There’s a story of a major league baseball player who’s speaking to inmates in prison. One of the inmates asked him: “How did you become a professional ball player sir?”
To which he says, “You know… I think it started when I was a boy. I would play catch with my dad and he would always say: ‘You keep throwing the ball like that son, you’ll end up in the major leagues one day! You keep swinging the bat like that son, and you’ll end up in the major leagues one day.’ And here I am… A professional ball player”
The room became quiet, and the inmate who asked the question, he said: “You know… The same thing happened to me. When I was a boy, my father told me that I was good for nothing, and that one day, I would end up in prison. And here… I am.
Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. WRONG! See, words can cut deeper and fester longer than any sword known to man. I still haven’t forgotten what they told me as a kid… The teasing, the insecurities, that it created, have you?
Consider the story of a little girl. She’s in the grocery store with her mother and she drops a bottle of milk onto the floor, breaking it. The mother says, “You stupid child, why did you do that?!”
Consider the story of another little girl who’s in the grocery store with her mother. She drops a bottle of milk onto the ground, breaking it, and this mother says “That, was a very ‘stupid’ thing you did.”
Which child do you think will grow up to have a healthier self-image and more self-confidence? The one who was called stupid or the one whose action was called stupid?
It is important to be mindful of the words that we use to our friends, our family, our loved ones, and strangers. Because sticks and stones can break our bones, but words can break our hearts. And if we are not careful, they can shatter our dreams.
