Remember when you were told as a child, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all? Sage advice. But, in a world of anonymous posts, too often forgotten.
When did we lose the ability to hold our tongues? Keep a negative thought to ourselves? Instead, we seem to have adopted a pile on mentality. The meaner and nastier, the better. And, when the subject matter is positive and the posts encouraging, is there always one or two negative nellies to add a drop of acid to an otherwise happy moment?
A random example. I love the television show, Veronica Mars. Major fangirl. When I read a post on Twitter from Kristen Bell that they were doing a reboot, I was over the moon. Naturally, I wanted to bask in the excitement and went to the comments. Positive love abounded.
But, naturally, someone had to put in their nasty two-cents worth. I hated the show. Kristen Bell is a no-talent poser. Hardly earth-shaking words. But you get my point. In the middle of a love-fest, a few people felt the need to toss some water on the warm, cuddly flame.
My question is why? What joy does someone get from the wet blanket approach to life? And, as we know, the example I stated is mild by comparison to a lot of things out there. Vile, hateful, cruel statements are made every day on all forms of social media. To what point? If you hurt someone else’s feelings, do you feel better about yourself? Maybe. Whether you’re religious or not, read the bible. There are some major mean girls—and boys—in the Greatest Stories Ever Told.
History is filled with petty, petulant, villains. We have more than a few high-profile ones around today—no names mentioned, but you don’t need much of an imagination to know who I mean. Sometimes I feel our world is run by a bunch of two-year-old brats.
What is the solution? Simple. We much teach our children and keep teaching them. Tell them to be kind, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. More important, follow through and set a good example. Words have power, but so do actions.
Kindness costs nothing. But a few kind words—and actions—are priceless.