Spread Love, Not Hate

I remember posting on a forum once where a girl wrote about how she struggled with epilepsy. She asked if anyone else on the forum had seizures as well. And in response, everyone posted bright, flashing images.

It turned out that the girl's seizures were not triggered by flashing colors, but I was still so angry when I saw all those posts. Those people had no problem triggering a seizure in a perfect stranger who had been civil and kind to them, even though the event could have killed her or at the very least caused her a lot of pain. And they did it all for the sake of being funny.

When I grew-up, I was bullied a whole lot. It made me stronger in a lot of ways, I can handle rejection better, I'm more stubborn than I used to be when fighting for something I believe in, and care less what people think, but it also wrecked me a lot emotionally. Made it hard for me to grow-up while I recovered from a lot of the mental issues I was given from people and made me incredibly socially awkward.

It's not okay or funny to bully someone. People kill themselves over these kinds of things. It can ruin their careers and their lives, even if it's just online.

That's why I'm participating in the Spread Love, Not Hate event being run by K.C. Neal. (Her blog is found here: http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ ) Because although humanity sometimes amazes me with how cruel it can be, it also amazes me sometimes about how kind it can be, and I'm hoping someday, if more people speak up about bullying and put a stop to bullies that they see, that we can stop this problem completely.

If you have any bullying experiences or if you were a bully yourself and would like to discuss why and what made you change, feel free to leave a post in the comments.