When was the last time you heard someone say "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?" No, really think about it. Does anyone really say this anymore? I don't think they do.
It used to be an old adage that your parents or grandparents would tell you and have you repeat when a bully, or even a friend or sibling hurt your feelings or said something mean. You would say, "sticks and stones" because they were just words. We were learning that we did not have to let words hurt us. And while we all know words can make you feel bad for a bit, we all have the power to get over it just like a broken bone or a bruise. Be strong, toughen up, and rub some dirt on it.
But not anymore. Today, the "sticks and stones" adage goes a little more like this:
We currently live in a politically correct world in which any comment or opinion that is deemed "offensive" or "hurtful" is immediately written off. The internet's cries of "racism," "hate speech," "bullying," "sexism," and "transphobia" are daily reminders of the sensitive world we have created. As millennials, we are the offended generation. Our colleges and universities have created "safe spaces" where we can quite literally hide from words and opinions that we don't agree with. How does this help us "grow up" and where did this all start? When did we stop debating or standing up to those we disagree with, or hurt our feelings?
We entered this über-politically correct world early on. Back in our grade school days our parents and teachers declared a "war on bullying." A war on kids being mean to each other. They started outlawing kids saying mean things. And while the Anti-bullying movement is a noble one -- we all want kids (and adults) to be kinder to one another -- the way in which they've gone about it has created a generation of cry babies.
Bullies and mean kids on the playground are something every generation before us just had to deal with. We even watched kids deal with it everyday after school; Jimmy Neutron, Arnold, the gang on Recess, and the Rugrats dealt with it, and yet the Anti-Bullying initiative in school told us to become tattle tales and report any teasing, name calling, rumors, or taunting because we were children and could not/should not deal with it on our own. -- This created an entire generation of kids, now adult(ish) people, who do not know how to deal with their own problems or with people who don't agree with them.
So how do we get over this? How do we stop being the tattle tale, cry baby, snowflake generation? How do we get back to "sticks and stones?" -- Well, I don't necessarily have an absolute answer, but I do think we could all (including myself) work on a few things to improve the image of our generation:
1. Stop being offended by everything. You do not have the right to not be offended. Let people make jokes, or express their opinions, even if they are a little off color and something did actually offend you, just let it go. (I'll even allow an eye roll) And then, just suck it up buttercup.
2. We are adults so no more trigger warnings, checking privilege, or safe spaces. Those phrases make you sound like a child complaining to your preschool teacher. You are in the real world now, and its not here to coddle you. Sometimes life is not fair. No one ever said it would be.
3. Take an interest in something, anything, outside of the Kardashians, the Real Housewives, and Buzzfeed's Snap Story. Learn about the current events or watch an interesting documentary on the History Channel (and I'm not talking about Swamp People). Don't prove the prior generations right by not having a clue about the goings on in the world. You want to be able to contribute some neat tidbit at the water cooler.
