As children, we were taught that words could never hurt us.
Sticks and stones, on the other hand, were apparently bad news.
But somewhere, along the road to adulthood, a surprising number of us end up adopting a completely opposite stance.
We become so afraid of the opinions of others that we’ll willingly alter the course of our lives just to maintain an appearance of acceptance.
When we do this, we surrender our freedom to act upon our own will and judgments.
We allow ourselves to become frozen in place out of the fear of slander or gossip.
We give anyone with a negative opinion of us the power to control us.
The choice we face is to either be assimilated by the collective or to risk its disapproval by following our conscience in a way that separates us from them.
Wendy McElroy says it like this:
“Every human being has a fundamental obligation to determine what is just and then to act according to his or her conscience, even if it contradicts the majority or the law. One’s moral conscience is what makes someone fully human.”
There is liberating power in losing our fear of letting someone call us names.
But if we’re serious about growing into our full potential, we have to be willing to let go of the need for the approval of others.
As Paul Rosenberg counsels, let others call us names and be proud of it.
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