Nobel Peace Prize
No one is perfect
A big issue for small minds | Opinion | The Seattle Times.
Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. had an Opinion piece in the January 19, 2014 Seattle Times Sunday newspaper. His article focuses on the cruelty that comes out of the mouths of people who feel they are obligated to point out the obvious to others. During and after her appearance on the Golden Globes, the exceptional 30-year old actress, Gabourey Sidibe, became the target of many anonymous, and sometimes identified, Twitter trolls who decided to remind her that she’s fat. One Tweet said she looked like the Globe in the Golden Globes; another stated that she missed the hour glass look by 10 hours.
Leonard Pitts questions when and how did this type of truly sadistic personal meanness become acceptable, even common place? “Everybody’s got something…some physical or emotional blemish measuring the distance from you to perfection.” So why do we think it’s any of our business to criticize someone else’s imperfection? Doing so is an act of judgment of someone about whom we know very little.
What happened to what Mr. Pitts calls “home training” that is supposed to teach us that there are just some things you don’t say to – or about – people in a public forum? Are these grown adults mimicking the behaviors from their upbringing, or did they just decide on their own to cut people to pieces, not caring a wit about the harm such cutting banter will have on the recipient?
Bullies – all of them.
Whether our “something” is shaped like the emotional scars of abuse, an eating disorder, physical or developmental disabilities, bad teeth, or a nose that is too big, too fat,or too small, no one has a right to inflict hurt on us by their words. Does hurting someone with words serve to downplay our own imperfections and/or personal issues? Does a person actually feel better after they’ve called someone a tub of lard, or uglier than sin, or dumber than a doornail?
I’ll leave you with Nobel Peace Prize winner, Eli Wiesel’s statement during an interview with Oprah Winfrey a couple years back. May it be a challenge to me, and a challenge to you.
As a human race, we must choose between: the violence of adults, and the smiles of children; the ugliness of hate, and the will to oppose it; inflicting suffering and humiliation on our fellow man, and offering him the solidarity and hope he deserves for naught.
Even in darkness, it is possible to create light and encourage compassion. Every moment of our life is essential; every gesture is essential. Our role in life is to give an offering to each other.
Grief on Friday, December 14, 2012.
Twenty young children and six school employees lost their lives in a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school today.
Approximately 40 parents said good bye to their young children for the last time this morning – children whose siblings, aunts and uncles, nephews, cousins, and grandparents, have one less family member. The school employees’ families are one short as well.
A lone gunman broke his way into an elementary school today with a Bushmaster .223 long rifle and two semi-automatic pistols: a 9mm Sig Sauer, and a 10mm Glock. He will not be tried in a court of law. He was the 27th human life that breathed its last at the school today.
This tragedy currently ranks as the 2nd worse school shooting in our Nation’s history. The 2007 Virginia Tech massacre of 32 takes 1st place; the Columbine Colorado High School incident comes in at 3rd place, with 13 massacred.
How does anyone reconcile the horror of this act?
And how do we erase the picture from our minds of children running down the school corridor with their eyes shielded, as advised by the emergency responders, to avoid seeing the carnage in and around the school office. You see, the school principal, a mother of five children of her own, and the school psychologist, were two of the six adult employees murdered today. But wait – there’s more. The gunman killed his mother at her home. All weapons used during the massacre were legally registered to the mother – a gun enthusiast.
Why even write an article about this tragedy when there is no lack of news coverage at your fingertips?
My reason for doing so is to vainly try to express my horror and grief over the loss of life that occurred today, and the loss of innocence that was stolen from the surviving children who witnessed the carnage. At this time of year, these children should only be concerned about whether the items on their Holiday gift lists will appear in their homes. Now these children – and all children in schools throughout the Nation and the World – have to wonder if their school is safe; if they can run away fast enough; if their favorite teacher will be a target.
I don’t have anything else to say other than to leave you with a sentiment from Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel:
We must choose between the violence of adults, and the smiles of children; the ugliness of hate and the will to oppose it; between inflicting suffering and humiliation on our fellow man, and offering him the solidarity and hope he deserves for naught. Even in darkness, it is possible to create light and encourage compassion. There it is – I still believe in man, in spite of man.
Living: the ultimate team sport 