I remember a saying that was bandied about when I was a child. "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." How wrong that statement is! I checked out the origin. See fn 1.
We've all seen the power of cruel words to break the spirit of the recipient. In today's world, there is so much bullying going on. This can be interfamilial (parents or siblings taunting a child of the family; it can be in school--in the classroom, on the playground, or on the school bus. It can be on the Internet. A higher rate of teen suicide has been reported in a small town near me because of bullying. Where does it stop?
A February 22, 2020 Washington Post article, "A 9-year-old bullied to the brink led an Australian rugby team to a roaring crowd" 2 captured the gut-wrenching video that the mother of QB took of her 9-year-old son, sitting in the back seat of her car, broken with grief and asking for a knife so he could kill himself. The child, QBwas born with Achondroplasia dwarfism — a rare bone-growth disorder that makes Quaden shorter than other kids. QB's mother posted a video of her son, sitting in the back seat of her car, broken with grief and asking for a knife so he could kill himself, and she spoke about the continuous and damaging bullying her son has endured and the terrible effect upon him.
The Facebook posting caught the attention of a California-based comedian Brad Williams who was born with the same disability. Williams immediately launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise enough money to accommodate the desire of the Australian boy to go to Disneyland. This campaign has raised significant monies with donations coming in constantly--with $10 amounts and some much larger. Williams says that excess funds from the nearly 10,000 donors will go toward charities that combat bullying and abuse.
fn 1.
fn 2. Hannah Knowles. "A 9-year-old bullied to the brink led an Australian rugby team to a roaring crowd," The Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2020.
fn 3. Horton, Alex, and Hannah Knowles. “A wrenching video showed a bullied 9-year-old’s pain. Thousands rallied to send him to Disneyland.” The Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2020. (Expanding on earlier reports).
fn 1. This children's taunt was first listed in 'Folk Phrases of Four Counties' (1894) by G.F. Northall and is first attested in the United States in 'Miss Lindsey' (1936) by S.G. Gibbons. The proverb is found in varying forms: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but hard words cannot hurt me; Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me; Sticks and stones will break my bones, but lies will never hurt me." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" (1996) by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).
