yet I still am unsettled.
Here's what is troubling me lately... I am just going to spew thoughts-- I feel a bit reckless...
I am so bothered by people who pick on others.
Today I logged into Facebook and saw one of my "friends", a girl I went to Sunday school with in middle school (a side tangent-- but this was THE most conservative church I've ever stepped foot in. Women are allowed to serve cookies but not vote, for instance.) had posted a picture with a caption something along the lines of ..."Seriously?!" I clicked on the picture to see a larger image. It was of a heavier girl with a french braid in the back, but the sides of her head were shorn so it was almost like she was wearing a french-braid mullet. Fashionable? Hardly. Justification for belittlement? Definitely not. I was so bothered by all the comments beneath the picture... I don't even remember what they said but they were all so cruel. This "friend" of mine had asked at one point, "Would you still be my friend if I wore that? LOL" and someone had responded, "I would definitely not be your friend! Why would someone wear that? SO ugly".... the gist of all these comments were "Why is this person living".
I am just so... upset. How can they devalue someone so quickly? This poor girl... I hope she was blissfully unaware of a stranger snarkily taking her photo without permission. What if she had turned around, and seen my "friend" with a camera stuck in her face? What would she think? Maybe she has a strong confidence already... but it just hurts me to think of one more person tormenting her. Does she need my friend's criticism? Contempt? Disgust? Anger? No.
And right then, I decided I didn't need this "friend" and promptly un-friended her. I noticed as I was doing so that this girl's cover image was of a neon "LOVE" sign. Ironic.
Then I wondered... and have wondered since... did I do the right thing? This girl won't know the context of my unfriending... if she realizes it at all. I haven't done anything to help the stranger, nor to correct my former friend's actions. Is it my job to correct others? Is that indicating the same air of superiority that my friend showed? Should I have said something? Goodness knows I am not afraid to stick my neck out when need be.... and I really think I should have called these people out.
It's too late now. My impulse to de-associate with this person trumped my willingness to help a stranger. So you see, I am no better... just troubled...
I'll place the weight of the world back on Atlas' shoulders for the night, now...