Starting at a young age, society as a whole will tell children that boys and girls are mean to each other because they like each other. We tell teenagers boys and girls that the other is jealous of them if they are hurtful to each other. And then, we tell adults to stop pitying themselves and to stop playing the victim card if they are in a domestic violence situation and to just get out (as if it is that easy). What a change of events. We start these relationships young, and we start with the wrong idea of what love should be. The tradition carries over time, even into adulthood. So how did this start, and where does it end?
What made us look at our children and say "it's okay?" It's okay that she's saying mean things about you, it's okay that he tripped you in the hallway, it's okay because they "like" you, that's why they do it, it is their way of "flirting" with you. It's not okay, and the idea that being hurt is a way of showing love is heart breaking. Now, I'm in my twenties looking at relationships around me and my personal relationships, and I am realizing that I (as well as most of my peers) make excuses for people too because "it's okay", at least that's what society has always told us. Unhealthy became the new love.
It is not okay, and to teach society that we have to start telling them it is not okay. We keep turning our heads to bullies, or people who like to have all the power, or people who want to emotionally control each other, when it was never okay. Men and women of all ages are experiencing domestic violence, yet we blame them for staying in the situation. How did you expect them not to stay? They thought it was okay, they thought they loved them, after all isn't that what love is? Isn't it okay?
We need to spread awareness by promoting healthy relationships, and discouraging the "it's okay" moments when something hurtful or degrading happens in a relationship. This may sound insane or too literal, but can you imagine a world if we never said that? How would the world be today? How rare would domestic violence be? When I think of a healthy relationship, I think gratitude, trust, empathy, love, support, and fun. I want other to think of these adjectives as well. Let's open our hearts, open our minds, and discourage the unhealthy and negative way of "loving or flirting", because I think we all know that it is not okay.
