#216 Just words

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” The seemingly sound, age old advice is becoming lost by the incoming generations as we creep towards an era where everything is deemed hate speech. As kids we can recall the freedom of being called “dummy” giving USA the option to snap back with an equally well thought retort or burst into tears. Regardless such “conflict” served us by allowing us to learn how to take ridicule from others. This aligns perfectly with a stoic principle, “control what you can control” or “the only thing you control is yourself”. With the absence of such trials also comes the ability to seek inner strength and find that regardless of what anyone says, we are in fact in control of our emotions and our actions.