Cruel Kids - Have you been bullied?

Cruel Kids?

Have you been bullied?  Many kids have.  Kids can be cruel sometimes, bruising their peers in the most profound way, shattering their self-confidence, making them feel miserable, utterly disappointed and troubled. Isn’t it ironic, that it is only after growing up a bit that we start becoming aware of our looks? I don’t think many parents realize the importance of teaching their children to be kind. And I don’t think many parents realize how much a child can suffer in school. In some people’s opinion, children don’t have problems, only adults. But this is not true. Everything is proportional to the person experiencing it. For little children, a problem that can seem trivial to an adult can deeply hurt their feelings and leave them heartbroken.  

Not everybody is nice in the world, but that that does not mean everybody is mean. Not everybody is nice in the world, but that is no reason to join them. There will always be mean people, jealous people, angry people, bitter people and envious people in our lives. But there will always be good, kind, friendly, compassionate, caring people, too. So, we must open our eyes and search for the people who are worth our while, instead of getting disappointed thinking that people are all bad. By giving a chance to others, we are really giving a chance to ourselves.

It is important to make sure we do not become infected by bitterness or become mean ourselves. We must make an effort to always be excellent, no matter how hard things get. When someone says something to us, we have to know it is not a fact, but just a disputable opinion that person has about us. We should not let it bother us. An opinion is just a guess, a supposition, a generalization somebody makes about us. It is harmless unless we allow it to become important, since it will not be true unless we make it true.

• Why give people or words an importance that they do not deserve?
• Why do we insist on being offended by what other people say?
• Who cares what someone else calls me if I know who I am for real? 
• Why should it be such a tragedy to be called a name? Who cares? 
• Why do we insist on giving so much importance to other people’s opinions of us? 

  

We cannot change certain people, but we can ignore them. We cannot change certain people, but we can always change ourselves. Let’s therefore focus on ourselves that we may be stronger and turn into better people, so that we can keep a good equilibrium in this world bringing to it goodness and love. Let’s make a point out of becoming more confident. To be sure of ourselves is one of the most valuable lessons we will ever learn, and it is never too late. Let’s make it our goal to find reasons to be happy instead of reasons to be offended. Let’s make it our life’s task to learn to be less mean. After all, after a while the mean people may get tired of being mean, and after a while being nice and kind becomes contagious.

We all have encountered at some point in time someone trying to hurt us. Let’s be more confident inside from now on, remembering that anything anybody says about us is just their opinion. 

Wisdom to contemplate:

“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

Continue your kindness toward your friends, your just defense of the honest heart. Do not let the foot of the proud overtake me, nor the hand of the wicked disturb me.” (Psalm 36:11-12)

Time to say goodbye - Isn't it Time to Say Goodbye to Jealousy?

 Isn't it Time to Say Goodbye to Jealousy?

Mother Teresa used to say that to be kind means giving much more than material things.   Do you agree?  I do.  For example, it can mean giving a smile, offering an encouraging word and sharing someone else’s joy. But don't you think that in order to share in someone else’s happiness first  we need to get rid of the jealousy that sometimes arises in our hearts?

            When we are jealous, we are unable to feel happy for others, and many times, instead of giving a compliment or praise, we sometimes end up spoiling another person’s happy moment by doing or saying something mean. Jealousy is like a disease that sometimes creeps inside us without us realizing it. 

How do we know for sure if what we feel is jealousy? Do a self-check! If we have a feeling of sadness, even if it is slight or deep inside, at the sight of another person’s material or personal achievement, then we have been bitten by the jealousy bug!

1. Am I bitter about someone else’s good fortune or success?
2. Do I always try to keep up with my neighbour? 
3. Do I criticize others so that they will lose confidence in themselves and so that I will look better? 
4. Do I keep comparing myself to others? 
5. Am I always looking for praise from others, and if someone else receives praise, does it bother me? Am I slow to thank, to encourage or to praise? 
6. Am I able to feel genuine happiness when someone else gets something I wanted?

Where does jealousy come from? It often comes from pride we think we are better than others and that we deserve more than they do. Other times, it is the result of our insecurity we desire to have what is not ours, and we unjustly want what rightly belongs to another.

How do we stay away from this dangerous virus? For starters, we must be honest with ourselves. We need to be constantly checking if there is even the slightest trace of jealousy inside our hearts when others are: more fortunate, richer, thinner, more successful, more beautiful, more loved, more popular, healthier or happier than we are. 

• For us to be happy about our own lives, we do not need to prove that other people’s lives are miserable. 
• For us to have faith in our own path, we do not need to prove someone else’s path is wrong. 
• For us to be secure, we do not need to make someone else insecure. 

           An old proverb says that happiness shared doubles.  Let’s seek to always share one another’s joy, because this will make us better people. It will strengthen and encourage us. And it will help us feel happy no matter what. If we rejoice in other people’s progress, we will immediately feel uplifted ourselves. If we let other people’s successes be our successes, others’ blessings will be our blessings, others’ joy our joy. So, be happy for your coworker’s promotion, your colleague’s new car, your old school friend’s good-looking spouse, your friend’s growing business, your cousin’s scholarship! A person who is able to feel happy for others is able to be happy most of the time.

Wisdom to contemplate:

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation.” (Romans 12:15-16)