The older I get, the more I realize it's inaccurate. It's a child's song. Because words can hurt, sometimes even more than sticks and stones. And silence can hurt even more than words. Rabbi Sidney Greenberg who was a Scholar in Residence here a number of years ago, wrote the following, more accurate poem.
Silence breaks the heart.
Silence hurts 1,000 times more than sticks and stones, or even angry words. So let me make 4 specific suggestions. I want you to resolve for this coming year, that you will learn to say these 4 phrases more often than you have in the past. I love you. I tell you that I can't overemphasize the difference that they can make in our lives and the lives of the people with whom we live.