A coddled generation should worry us all

Like most people, I have many weaknesses, but being thin-skinned isn’t one of them. I suspect it’s just my personality, but it’s also true that those of us who were born before 1980 were exposed to an oft-repeated phrase: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

This empowering mantra is foreign to the modern generation, particularly those who have 21st-century college degrees because the culture has taught them the exact opposite: That words are everything, and they will crush you. As a result, we’ve churned out a generation of coddled kids. They can’t handle the truth. They can’t handle dissent. And they can’t make cogent arguments. Instead, they hurl insults, or they run and hide to their safe space.