Sticks and Stones

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Have you heard the saying? Usually if you've heard that then you were at the receiving end of some verbal attack.

I remember when I was a kid that my dad would barrage me with names that he believed that I would be called in school, such as: Chinky, Chinaman, Rice Bowl, Jap, Beaner, etc...I didn't like but he kept re-enforcing that I better get used to it because it was going to happen all the time.

Well, it did. I was called Bruce Lee, Ancient Chinese Secret, Slant Eyes, Rice Boy, among others. I never reacted to the comments whether they hurt or not. I just wondered what was bothering them that they had to pick on me. Were they feeling powerless and they felt that by trying to hurt me they would feel better about themselves?

As an adult, I don't get the names but now it's simply, "Are you Asian?" I think that it's funny that I've been told that I look every single Asian nationality, but I'm leaning toward Chinese background.

Ever been picked on?

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