I do have some experience in this area. This is not to say all experiences are the same.
When I was in grade school I was not the sharpest tack in the box. In school, I was the one at the bottom of class ranking. I repeated several grades and I can remember getting scores like 16/100, 18/100, 23/100, etc. Needless to say school was an experience.
I can also remember the insults. The one that stung the most was, "You are as dumb as a box of rocks and that is an insult to the box of rocks." The box of rocks was sometimes substituted with pot, orange, door knob, etc. I was teased relentlessly. As a result of the low grades I did not graduate from high school. Yes, I did get my GED at 26 years of age.
Fast forward, today as I look at teasing, shaming, etc. I realized I felt hurt because I gave my power away. One only has to read a few chapters on stoic philosophy to see that the teasing, name calling, etc. are all external. It is only when we allow them to become internal then is when we feel pain, hurt etc.
Some of my favorite quotations are: Events are neutral, it is our thoughts that give meaning to things.
People and things are external. Our feelings are internal. We must never surrender the internal to the external.
Here is my take on how to deal with name calling, shaming, teasing, etc. The separation of the internal from the external is the key to living a happy and peaceful life. Our hurt, anxieties, etc. only happen when we give our power away and allow others to rule our lives. We give them space in our heads. They are bad tenants. They need to be evicted.
At the end of the day, we anger ourselves, we hurt ourselves, we sadden ourselves, etc. It is all in our heads.
Having said the above I believe we should all live a life of neutral or make it better for the next person. We are all brothers and sisters.
