Integrity
This is not inspired by any single event - but rather by the ugliness I have seen everywhere lately...
I find it sad when people find a single flaw in someone else and immediately condemn them to "BAD PERSON" status for the rest of their lives. Good lord, people are human, and not a single, solitary one of us is without a selfish vice. Bad choices do not define a person's intrinsic worth.
Similarly, I hate how people often take for granted that the horrible things they to others say are not being taken seriously. So many people, especially with the anonymity of the internet, say some of the most awful, shocking things I've ever heard - personal character attacks I very well doubt they would say to a person's face. I really, desperately need to believe that people honestly do not know how badly they can make some people feel. But sometimes I wonder...I see people bragging and laughing because they hurt someone's feelings on the internet - and it's not funny. I went through something awful - something hellish that I won't talk about - and they have no idea how their criticisms would make someone like me feel if they were directed at me. At least I hope not. I truly hope it's a blessed ignorance on their part because they've never been through what I have, because it's true what they say: the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. And honestly, the idea that people could make other people feel like shit and just be totally indifferent about it makes me sick inside and fearful, as well.
People, for God's sake, before you assume that everyone has as thick of a skin as you do, or SHOULD have as thick of a skin as you do, stop to consider that you have not experienced EVERY single thing in the world, and you don't know what the person you're hurling character attacks at has been through, and maybe, JUST maybe, they do not have as thick of a skin as you do, and maybe they just can't. Consider yourself lucky, blessed and accomplished if you have a thick skin - but do know that words can have a more profound effect on someone than you could ever realize.
If integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking, hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and allowing yourself to unleash your pent-up rage at the wrong targets definitely does not qualify. People are not as selfish as their one poor choice, and people may be more fragile than you could ever imagine. Words can be more powerful than you can ever imagine. Use your words to make a difference - but make it a positive one. Change the world for the better!
I find it sad when people find a single flaw in someone else and immediately condemn them to "BAD PERSON" status for the rest of their lives. Good lord, people are human, and not a single, solitary one of us is without a selfish vice. Bad choices do not define a person's intrinsic worth.
Similarly, I hate how people often take for granted that the horrible things they to others say are not being taken seriously. So many people, especially with the anonymity of the internet, say some of the most awful, shocking things I've ever heard - personal character attacks I very well doubt they would say to a person's face. I really, desperately need to believe that people honestly do not know how badly they can make some people feel. But sometimes I wonder...I see people bragging and laughing because they hurt someone's feelings on the internet - and it's not funny. I went through something awful - something hellish that I won't talk about - and they have no idea how their criticisms would make someone like me feel if they were directed at me. At least I hope not. I truly hope it's a blessed ignorance on their part because they've never been through what I have, because it's true what they say: the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. And honestly, the idea that people could make other people feel like shit and just be totally indifferent about it makes me sick inside and fearful, as well.
People, for God's sake, before you assume that everyone has as thick of a skin as you do, or SHOULD have as thick of a skin as you do, stop to consider that you have not experienced EVERY single thing in the world, and you don't know what the person you're hurling character attacks at has been through, and maybe, JUST maybe, they do not have as thick of a skin as you do, and maybe they just can't. Consider yourself lucky, blessed and accomplished if you have a thick skin - but do know that words can have a more profound effect on someone than you could ever realize.
If integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking, hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and allowing yourself to unleash your pent-up rage at the wrong targets definitely does not qualify. People are not as selfish as their one poor choice, and people may be more fragile than you could ever imagine. Words can be more powerful than you can ever imagine. Use your words to make a difference - but make it a positive one. Change the world for the better!