I’m not going to sit here and brag about how I am and have always been the kindest person. That would be a lie. I, like many adolescents, went through a stage of making fun of people. Making jokes behind their backs and putting them down to make me feel better about my own insecurities. I was a bully. But now when I look back to those judgments that I made and thought, I feel sick. I am so angry with myself for sinking down to the lowest of levels and criticizing and bashing my peers. Today I ask myself: Why do we do this? Why did I do this? Does society teach us to put down the people that look different from what the media portrays as attractive? Why do we categorize people who are different from this given “norm” as weird, stupid, or ugly? I hate living in a world where we can’t just leave others alone and let them be themselves without scrutinizing and making comments. It is not our place to denounce a person’s worth. Why are people so caught up in concern for someone else’s life rather than focusing on their own?
It seems as if every day there is some new picture that has gone viral because of a joke it is making about someone, filled with terrible comments with nothing but cruel intentions. Imagine if that happened to you or someone you loved. The person in the picture is a real human being with feelings and a heart. It is one thing to think nasty thoughts about people to yourself, but to hide behind a computer and type those incredibly hurtful remarks is just inhumane and childish. We are all human. We all have feelings. I don’t understand how someone can deliberately put someone down for doing nothing but being themselves or looking a certain way. Picking on people for the things they cannot control about themselves is truly malicious. What does that achieve?
It is time for a change. Our species needs to come together and find the good. We need to spread love, not hate. You never know how much a small act of kindness can affect a person. Simply smiling at or complimenting a stranger can have such a huge impact. You never know how much someone needed to hear something positive that day. We live in a harsh world full of disease, poverty, and death, so why not choose to bring some positivity in a way that we can actually control? It is just so easy that there are no excuses. Cut out the negativity, judgment, and hate and replace it with love, kindness, and positivity. You will better yourself and the lives of others. Let the positivity radiate from you so to spread kindness and love all around. Teach your children, grandchildren, siblings, and cousins to give praise and smile instead of judge and belittle. Small acts of compassion from everyone will have a great affect on the world. Get out there and find and spread the love.
