Open Letter to those Who Choose to Bully (and the Systems Who Justify Bullying)
To Whom It May Concern,
First I want to say there are many methods of bullying. Bullying is no longer limited to physical violence or beating up the younger kid and taking his lunch money. It is now realized that bullying includes excessive teasing with the intention of causing emotional harm, making fun of, intense rejection and manipulation. In short, bullying is any type of intentional harm against another human being.
I know you feel you have the right to bully if you do not like someone or do not agree with them. Please allow me to respond.
I don't care if you don't like that person.
I don't care if that person is smaller, uglier, skinnier, fatter, or whatever else than you are.
I don't care if that person is not popular.
I don't care if he wears a pink boa with purple polka-dots and silver glitter.
I don't care if she wears men's boots and a flat-top hair cut.
I don't care if you think they are a sinner.
I don't care if they are a sinner.
I don't care if you think they are the most disgusting scum of the earth God ever put breath in and you cannot figure out why they even exist.
I don't care what reasoning you are using, it's wrong. It does not give you the right cause physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological harm to another person.
I'm sure bullying makes you feel empowered. You may have even been bullied or abused yourself. If that is the case, I am truly sorry you had to go through that. No one should have to. But please stop and think before you cause the same type of harm to another person. Make a stand for the right instead of repeating the wrong.
And just to get it out there, any "system" - be it a governmental system, a school system, a church system, whatever - that backs the bullying rather than the victim needs to be confronted. There have been many heroic people throughout history who have done just that and changed things for the better. (Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and others of the Civil Rights Movement, and many others).
It is time we all take a stand.
First I want to say there are many methods of bullying. Bullying is no longer limited to physical violence or beating up the younger kid and taking his lunch money. It is now realized that bullying includes excessive teasing with the intention of causing emotional harm, making fun of, intense rejection and manipulation. In short, bullying is any type of intentional harm against another human being.
I know you feel you have the right to bully if you do not like someone or do not agree with them. Please allow me to respond.
I don't care if you don't like that person.
I don't care if that person is smaller, uglier, skinnier, fatter, or whatever else than you are.
I don't care if that person is not popular.
I don't care if he wears a pink boa with purple polka-dots and silver glitter.
I don't care if she wears men's boots and a flat-top hair cut.
I don't care if you think they are a sinner.
I don't care if they are a sinner.
I don't care if you think they are the most disgusting scum of the earth God ever put breath in and you cannot figure out why they even exist.
I don't care what reasoning you are using, it's wrong. It does not give you the right cause physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological harm to another person.
I'm sure bullying makes you feel empowered. You may have even been bullied or abused yourself. If that is the case, I am truly sorry you had to go through that. No one should have to. But please stop and think before you cause the same type of harm to another person. Make a stand for the right instead of repeating the wrong.
And just to get it out there, any "system" - be it a governmental system, a school system, a church system, whatever - that backs the bullying rather than the victim needs to be confronted. There have been many heroic people throughout history who have done just that and changed things for the better. (Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and others of the Civil Rights Movement, and many others).
It is time we all take a stand.
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