What has happened to the courage of speaking up when spoken to, not hiding behind a computer screen that masks our face and true emotions?
What has happened to the Golden Rule, treating others as you wish to be treated?
It's so easy to make comments on a strangers posts, ridiculing him or her with harsh cruelty that you would never have the nerve to speak should you ever be presented face to face. The sad truth is that we not only do it to strangers, but to our friends. Maybe you had a bad day yourself and you are just trying to get out some sort of pent up rage, anger or fear out there into the world far away from you. Maybe you're jealous that you didn't think of it first or have the nerve to post something that might make you feel silly or awkward or vulnerable.
Maybe you're just an asshole.
Whatever the case, it seems so easy these days to not only just 'speak your mind' and share your, sometimes, unwanted opinions but to be cruel and uncaring in the process and forget that someone else, a person, is waiting to hear from you on the other side of the screen.
In so many ways, it is easier to put yourself out there via YouTube, Facebook and personal blogs. But it's that much easier for the critics to capture you in a moment of vulnerability, to let these strangers (and friends) whose opinions truly shouldn't matter, matter even more than the words that should stick with you; the positive supporters, the non-assholes of the world.
I personally choose to believe that those who are cruel just for the thrill of being so, are in the smaller percentage of the world. I feel that most people are good and want to do and be good. But it's hard to let go of everything else, knowing that such people do exist and that they're out there simply waiting to pounce on their next victim. Perhaps I spend too much time trying to understand such people and the whys of their actions. I don't, and never will, understand how anyone is OK with being the bully.
We all have a story. We all have fears and emotions that we hide from everyone else. Knowing this about human nature in general, it seems that it would just be easier to simply be supportive and if you disagree with something, that's fine. That's what keeps this place we live in so interesting. I'm not saying you have to agree. I'm saying you can disagree with a little bit more tact.
Words are the most powerful being in this universe. Once said, you can't take them back. So next time you feel the need to speak up, think before you shoot the words out of your keyboard onto the screen and out into cyber space at another living soul.
I know it will still happen. I know that some people will never change and that's just the truth.
So I'm speaking now to you, the writer or sharer of such posts/events/opinions/videos/ect ect that get attacked, sometimes for no reason at all. Keep writing. Keep sharing. You're the hero in this story because you choose to not let it get to you enough to stop.
Your voice matters to the rest of us who are waiting to hear it, no matter how small or meek.
'This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust
Leave the rest behind it will turn to dust
This is the sound of all of us'
The Wailin' Jenny's- 'One Voice'
What has happened to the Golden Rule, treating others as you wish to be treated?
It's so easy to make comments on a strangers posts, ridiculing him or her with harsh cruelty that you would never have the nerve to speak should you ever be presented face to face. The sad truth is that we not only do it to strangers, but to our friends. Maybe you had a bad day yourself and you are just trying to get out some sort of pent up rage, anger or fear out there into the world far away from you. Maybe you're jealous that you didn't think of it first or have the nerve to post something that might make you feel silly or awkward or vulnerable.
Maybe you're just an asshole.
Whatever the case, it seems so easy these days to not only just 'speak your mind' and share your, sometimes, unwanted opinions but to be cruel and uncaring in the process and forget that someone else, a person, is waiting to hear from you on the other side of the screen.
In so many ways, it is easier to put yourself out there via YouTube, Facebook and personal blogs. But it's that much easier for the critics to capture you in a moment of vulnerability, to let these strangers (and friends) whose opinions truly shouldn't matter, matter even more than the words that should stick with you; the positive supporters, the non-assholes of the world.
I personally choose to believe that those who are cruel just for the thrill of being so, are in the smaller percentage of the world. I feel that most people are good and want to do and be good. But it's hard to let go of everything else, knowing that such people do exist and that they're out there simply waiting to pounce on their next victim. Perhaps I spend too much time trying to understand such people and the whys of their actions. I don't, and never will, understand how anyone is OK with being the bully.
We all have a story. We all have fears and emotions that we hide from everyone else. Knowing this about human nature in general, it seems that it would just be easier to simply be supportive and if you disagree with something, that's fine. That's what keeps this place we live in so interesting. I'm not saying you have to agree. I'm saying you can disagree with a little bit more tact.
Words are the most powerful being in this universe. Once said, you can't take them back. So next time you feel the need to speak up, think before you shoot the words out of your keyboard onto the screen and out into cyber space at another living soul.
I know it will still happen. I know that some people will never change and that's just the truth.
So I'm speaking now to you, the writer or sharer of such posts/events/opinions/videos/ect ect that get attacked, sometimes for no reason at all. Keep writing. Keep sharing. You're the hero in this story because you choose to not let it get to you enough to stop.
Your voice matters to the rest of us who are waiting to hear it, no matter how small or meek.
'This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust
Leave the rest behind it will turn to dust
This is the sound of all of us'
The Wailin' Jenny's- 'One Voice'
