This I Believe

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” That is a chant that I used very frequently as a child. I liked saying it back then, but it brought some courage to my life the older I got.

In high school I was the center of a very cruel rumor. I had the most trouble trying to cover the rumor up. I was losing friends and my reputation was getting trashed more and more every day. I quickly realized that I would fail at trying to cover up what people were saying about me because this was high school a place where everybody talks about everybody.

The unkind words forced me into being a homebody and not seeing anyone which was exactly the opposite of who I was. Better ideas of ways to deal with it weren’t available to me. I didn’t understand why I was hiding from something that I knew was not true. The more I let the gossip continue the worse people made it.

After I exhausted all of my other options, I caved in and went to my sister for advice. By definition is that not what a sibling is supposed to do, help you when you need it? My sister gave me the best advice that I have ever been given. She stated something someone had obviously told her before, “kill them with kindness, they’ll never know what hit em.” After that I stopped hiding, and I started living my life so that no one would believe the unkind things that were said about me.

Ever since then I have rarely let words hurt me. I always figured I did something to deserve the unkind things that people were saying, but I came to realize that people never grow up. There will always be the mean kid on the playground that envies you, or just plain doesn’t like you because of how you look, what you have, or what you don’t have. In every environment there are vindictive people that do what they think they have to do to get what they want, and with the help of my sister’s smiling face I laugh at them.

Never again will I allow people to tear me down with their words. The more people talk about me the stronger it makes me feel. My life will go on no matter what.