I Bruise Easily

Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.


I remember saying this and thinking this a lot when I was a kid.  Thankfully, I haven't had to in years.  Bullying.  Bullying has become an epidemic and everyone says that it needs to stop, but where to begin?  


In this day and age it is near impossible.  I turn the tv on and I hear newscasters and important people and tv shows saying that it needs to stop.  At the same time, others and even some of the people saying that it needs to stop are bullying themselves.  Maybe we have different definitions of bullying, but isn't making fun of someone bullying?


Examples


1.  the TV show, Glee, has been facing bullying a lot lately with the character of Kurt, an openly gay student who has an enemy on the football team.  The show has his fellow Glee-mates standing up for him, yet show the principle calling him demeaning nicknames like Lady and Porcelain.  What kind of message is that?


2.  Ellen Degeneres - I have to admit that I love her show.  However, I've noticed some inconsistencies.  She's been ending the show lately with "be kind to one another," but throughout the show she's making fun of people with her jokes and acts.


3.  Saturday Night Live - I've heard it said that once SNL has parodied you, you've made it to the big time.  The last episode I saw they had a skit about Miley Cyrus and while it was funny, if I were her I would have been really hurt.  


4.  Countless others - The Soup on E!, any late night talk show host's opening monologue, Celebrity Gossip shows judging everyone, etc.


It's all bullying, isn't it?


Not only do parents need to start teaching their children about bullying and teasing, but every single person needs to start making a conscious effort to be positive and lift people up, not bring them down but to lift people up.  Whatever happened to doing unto others as you would have done to you, or just not saying anything if you don't have anything nice to say?  I think that gossip is a form of bullying as well and I in no way, shape, or form can claim to have never gossiped.  I am going to make a huge effort to stop all together.


I still remember hurtful things that have been said and done to me in the past and the phrase "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" has not come true.  Broken bones heal and the pain becomes a distant memory.  Hurtful words stay with a person and become a chronic injury that is not forgotten.


Song of the day is 'I Bruise Easily,' by Natasha Bedingfield.