Sticks and Stones

I work at a middle school. I've been called a lot of names by 11-to-14-year-olds in nine years. Doesn't bother me; angry kids will say angry things.

In those years I've also talked to a lot of kids who got in trouble because "he called my mom a ho!" or "she called me a bitch!" and they got in a fight. My question is always the same. "Does his/her saying it make it true?"

I try to live by that as well. I'm not particularly thin-skinned. When someone makes assumptions about me that aren't true...