"Sticks and stones may break your bones / but words can break hearrrrts..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw Sure it happens! In many ways. Yet you learn to deal with it. Develop an armour of thick skin. Learn to fight words with wittier words, or if that fails, use silence. Trivia: it's a British phrase in origin, specifically from the area just near (but not on) the Welsh border. It turned up in US publication abut 40 years after it was first published in the UK.

And what is your question?

Hurt feelings, as a result of words, actions or deeds can be a common occurrence, the best way to avoid the pain of hurt feelings is to not take the comment, action or deed personally. This is doesn't mean that the comment, action, or deed should be ignored, it simply means that we don't have to allow it to affect us. How we feel from moment to moment is ironically enough a learned response, and we can take back the control of that automatic response any time we choose to. We are not at the mercy of our emotional self. There are always two sides to every situation, what side we choose to see and focus on is our choice, how we respond to events in our lives is also our choice. I remember a story I read many years ago as a young sales manager, by the famed author Norman Vincent Peale. Upon meeting an elderly man he asked, "Sir, you are always so happy. It seems no matter what travesties, calamities, or hardships befall your life you're always happy, optimistic and a pleasure to be around. How do you do it?" The elderly gentleman replied, "I am not fool young man. To be happy or sad is a choice, and I choose to be happy. Circumstances do not dictate to me how I feel from moment to moment, that is my choice. And I choose to be happy. No matter what happens in my life I choose to respond in a positive, optimistic way with a smile on my face and happiness in my heart." This story has helped me on my life's journey to keep things in perspective and make a conscious decision of how to respond to any event I may come across. Another way to I have found to avoid such hurtful occurrences is to take into consideration the person we feel offended by. Are they honestly meaning to offend us, or is it just a misunderstanding on our part. If it is a loved one, and we know in our heart they are not meaning to offend us then we can simply assume the feelings of hurt are based on a simple misunderstanding. To avoid the feelings of hurt in the future we can adjust our own thinking and perception of the event and feel happy and loved rather than hurt or scorned. Another thing to keep in mind, we can choose how long to allow ourselves to feel offended. We can feel offended for 1 second, 5 hours, 3 weeks, a year, or even in some cases a lifetime. For me, I rather choose to feel offended for least amount of time so I can get back to feeling happy, optimistic and full of joy. Another extreme way I have learned to deal with hurtful people. The type of people that seem to take pleasure in causing emotional pain, inflicting emotional and psychological damage at will, is to eliminate them from my life permanently. If I find that someone is malicious in nature, and not nice to be around I simply do not allow that person into my life in the future.

Certain peoples tend to be more sensitive. Studies have been done of different ethnic groups and some generalizations have come into play. American Indians are more sensitive as are Oriental peoples. Sometimes when standards for living are set by invading groups of people, they set a harsher standard than would have been practiced by the indigenous people. It is very interesting. Just be honest with yourself about your feelings. Try to think of all the kind people who have smiled and been nice and realize most people are kind. There are just a few meanies out there.

This is literally killing me or depleting my mental energies, as the perpetrator is in my family, the only one you would be hard to believe doing such abuses to a son! Thanks for your kind concern.