Mean

“I love how the girl is so fat that she can’t even do a full minute of dancing without two cuts for her to catch her breath,” was a comment left on a dancing video on YouTube of a woman named Whitney Thore.  Whitney, who is on the television show My Big Fat Fabulous Life, is a 380 pound American living in the 21^st century.  Why would someone take time out of their day to leave a horrible, discouraging comment toward someone they don’t even know?  Whitney was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  So, to the person who left the comment, did they know how hurtful it would be to Whitney?  Sometimes people hurt others knowingly and sometimes unknowingly; either way, people can hurt people physically, mentally, and verbally.

In America alone, approximately 160,000 students skip school every day because of bullying.  It doesn’t make sense to me why Americans are letting this happen.  Everyone and anyone could be bullied, but no one ever seems to care until it is personal or until it is too late.  Most teenagers are joining the trend of tweeting, and Whitney Thore has started #nobodyshamecampaign.  Not everyone is bullied for their body image, but I think that the campaign is another way for people to help others instead of hurt others.  Getting the word out is great!

Instead of hurting others, we should be helping and caring for those around us.  We all live on this Earth.  Dalai Lama once said, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”  Americans have been drilling this into children’s minds since babies.  How many times does someone pass a homeless person and give them that bottle of water which has been in the car for weeks or the half eaten sandwich about to be finished?  Too many times, people don’t.

I don’t think people realize the impact they can make on one’s life.  Take teachers for example.  The strictest, harshest, most discouraging teacher could make a child hate school forever.  On the other hand, a caring, uplifting, and helpful teacher could become a role model for students.  Words matter: they can hurt or they can help.

One organization encouraging people to be kinder to one another is Dina Creiger’s Choose To Be Nice.  On the website, numerous people have shared their stories about how  they themselves and others are making the promise to be kind.  Lots of those people give thanks to Choose To Be Nice for keeping them inspired.  This is just one of the organizations in the world trying to change how people interact with one another to make the interaction more loving.

Whitney Thore is not the only person who has been hurt; everyone has at some point been hurt by somebody.  I hope people can change the way we speak and act toward others.  Give compliments, apologize and forgive, ask if people need any help and don’t be mean.