happiness and food

Today is March 19, 2015 more than an year of this post being written. Yet I feel that this post is worth the joint efforts of the group  #1000Speak against bullying. I am editing an earlier written post as I have been bullied as a child. The hurt and pain I had to go through while growing up were immense. It took time but I overcame them all. I have moved on from those dark days yet the problem is still there. My post is to stand up against bullying. 

Today morning, while surfing news channels we came across a news piece at CNN News. Since then, this particular news item has got me thinking “again”.

A lot of people who know me well also know that this topic is pretty close to my heart. I always thought that being bullied cos of your looks is an India specific thing but to my surprise, even kids in developed nations go through this kind of pain.

To my readers, let me begin by sharing a little about what this news talks of. An American girl was bullied at her school due to her big nose. The file photos in the news item showed her nose and the teenager spoke of all the harassment and bullying she was going through at school. This all resulted in low self-esteem and lack of confidence about her physical self to such an extent that going to school to study became a nightmare. The solution? This teenager went under the knife and got a nose job done so that now no one can bully her for her looks. The mom-daughter duo spoke of about how they fought this tough time and now the girl is back with a smile on her face and self-confidence within. That was the only thing to do to get life back on track and yes, they could do it!

As humans, we do attach a specific importance to how a person looks. Maybe that’s the reason we have all those beauty pageants. Male or female – we are all assessed on our looks every now and then. In our society, the arranged marriages mean that the girl will be judged on how she looks. Have you ever seen a matrimonial? Fair, wheatish, tall are the most used words. But how the person is behind the face that you like or dislike is something that you get to know only when you talk to the person. Good looking guys get the good-looking girls and vice versa. But have they got a good person? May be yes but may be not! Even the most beautiful person will grow old one day. Our body is just an outer thing to who we really are!

Sometimes going under the knife is the only option left and there are so many foundations across the world that help little children see the light of normalcy. A facial deformity during birth or accidents is something that we don’t have a control. Under those situations, corrective procedures and surgeries is the only way out.  There is no right or wrong thing about this.

My take is to let the person behind the face win. Never judge a person by how he/she looks. Looks is something that we were all born with or had to face due to a situation but is it right to bully someone? As adults, our responsibility is manifold. As parents, teachers, confidants, siblings – we need to pass this message to our younger generation.  We need to stop the looks-discrimination and never let the bully win!

Watch the news here!

I am participating in an initiative by Katie Paul, Yvonne Spence, Lizzi Rogers who are the souls behind the 1000 Voices for Compassion #1000Speak movement happening again on March 20, Friday.