A Bully By Any Other Name.......
When I was a teenager, I expected childish, bullying behavior; however, when I grew up I assumed that adults behaved differently. Apparently, some adults never grow out of this phase! Instead of demanding lunch money or just physically abusing you, adult bullies have taken to cyber space!
The bariatric community is full of individuals who were bullied as children and young adults due to their weight. We as a whole should join together to stop bullying in all forms since we were often the victims of it. However, lately there has been an upswing in the amount of cyber bullying in our community and instead of banding together to stop it, we either follow it or stand silently by!
Your words can cut like a sword when someone is dealing with issues of WLS and the negativity makes those issues compounded. It is easy to sit in judgement of someone else's life from the anonymity of a keyboard. Would you behave this way or speak so boldly if you were in the other person's presence? Or would you behave like a compassionate human being? None of us are perfect and it is ridiculous to expect perfection. Everyone has good days and bad; if you don't want to read about it, move on. To some it may seem like whining; however, it may be a cry for help and your harsh words may push this person over the edge. Remember the golden rule, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all!
As grown adults with families and children of our own, is it not time to stand up and say, "No, we will tolerate this behavior any further?" To follow or stay silent is saying yes to not only bullying others in the community, but setting a precedent for the present and the future. Following a cyber bully makes you a cyber bully too! Who knows, you could be the next victim or it could be your child!
Treat others as you would want to be treated yourselves and let's make this a kinder, more unified community!
I've read that the anonymity drives people to say and do things they'd NEVER do in real life. Makes sense! Social media has also created a sense of inflated self-importance for many people who believe anything they say should be considered important. The advice of the old message board is still the best! Don't feed the trolls!
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