I was having a catch-up call with my sister this afternoon ‘What? You don’t know? How can you not have heard about it?’ She was referring to the celebrity bullying allegations that are all over the news.
A number of A- list celebs have been opening up about how they were bullied by fellow A -list celebrities in the past, and how traumatised they were and still are all these years later.
Once I hung up from my sister, I did a little search to find out what kind of bullying she was talking about. It was saddening and shocking. What kind of world do we live in, when a person is told on a public platform that ‘they should go ‘die’ or for that matter even privately ‘that their career will be over.’?
The effects of bullying can be devastating. Deliberate behaviour that is done to hurt or upset someone, just has no excuse. The sad reality is that it can happen anywhere where there are people, schools, workplaces and the internet. Bullying can be done by an individual or a group of people in many different ways including verbal harassment, in which someone is hurt through petty words, insults, or offences.
Sadly, bullying remains a common problem, and it is so important that we address it and work together to find solutions.
I think we need to make it cool to be kind again, kindness is strength, it encourages respect for oneself and others. Not only does this discourage bullying behaviour, but it empowers people in situations of victimisation. Let’s make it cool to be kind, in our homes, and let it create tidal waves of transformation into, schools, workplaces, industries and the internet.
I know we are all human and people make mistakes, it’s a brave act to publicly apologise, but sometimes the collateral damage is too big.
Let’s use this as a reminder to be conscious about words before they come out of our mouths. Once they are out, there floating around in the atmosphere and it’s pretty near impossible to take them back and this week’s news stories show they have a way of coming back to haunt you.
