I agree. But it's not just that these people have never been punched. It seems that many of them have never experienced any serious physical injury or illness or been exposed to any physical hardship. Used to be, most kids during childhood broke bones and spent time in casts, got other injuries that needed emergency hospital care, got wounds that required stitches, suffered numerous bouts of illness that left them bed-bound and incapacitated (measles, chicken pox, rubella, mumps), and underwent surgeries (when I was a kid, tonsillectomies were pretty routine).

Also, in the old days of my youth in the 1950s and 60s, kids routinely were sent to bed without supper, got our mouths washed out with soap, and were hit by parents and teachers using their hands or devices like wooden rulers and yardsticks, paddles, rolled up newspapers and magazines, hardback books, and in the case of the religious fanatics who educated and raised me, with crucifixes and giant rosary beads of the sort worn by RC nuns. Now I'm not recommending a return to the draconian days of corporal punishment - coz getting hit in the face, on the bottom, on the back of the thighs, or on the hands or feet is really unpleasant and can really fuck up kids/people for a long time. Still, such experiences do provide a bit of perspective and an acute awareness that there is a big difference between being verbally insulted and being physically attacked.

One of the most memorable and liberating moments of my life occurred in my 20s when I had an issue with my boss that I needed to confront him about, but I was paralyzed with fear of making him angry - then in a flash I realized that whilst he could respond by yelling at me, dismissing me, demoting me, firing me, the one thing he couldn't do was hit me.

Editing to add: of course in the 1970s, my boss physically could have hit me, but what I meant was that doing so would have been seen as way out of line, contrary to prevailing standards of normal workplace behavior, and also would've constituted assault, a criminal act. Whereas in that era, and during my childhood, a lot of hitting went on in other settings - such as at home, school, on playgrounds, in bars, on the streets, etc - and was considered by many to be normal, acceptable and even justifiable. Which was made clear by often-heard phrases like "spare the rod, spoil the child;" "that kid needs a good spanking;" "this hurts me more than it hurts you;" and "if you don't stop crying, I'm gonna give you something to really cry about."

Today, of course, a lot of hitting and other forms of violence and abuse still goes on amongst intimates in the domestic sphere, unfortunately. But at least adults hitting kids is no longer allowed in schools and sports as it once was.

https://wgntv.com/news/georgia-youth-football-coach-sheriffs-office-employee-fired-after-viral-video-hitting-child-player/

And nowadays parents who hit their kids and are caught at it can expect to get pushback from the press and public, and perhaps at work too, as the case of NFL player Adrian Peterson showed.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/11897549/minnesota-vikings-rb-adrian-peterson-was-done-horrific-visuals-child-abuse-case

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/child-abuse-suspension-adrian-peterson-belt-son/story?id=59352482