No Gain without Pain

 I think we've all had a time in our lives when we have felt bad because of someone else's words or choices. Unfortunately some people have to experience this weekly, daily all the way up to by the minute and second. It all begins from someone else deciding that it will be funny to tear someone else down, or from someone who's confidence in them self is sadly based off of the humiliation of others. This leads to the detriment of one's self worth and can quickly lead to far deeper issues that most likely will remain within a person for years.
I work in an elementary school. A place where children should go to feel safe, loved and free to be themselves. Unfortunately trends are set on what's cool, who's cool and who decides all of these cool rules. Well What gave anyone that power? Our world is based off of status. A lot of people believe that in order to get to the top, they must stomp on people on their way up. Why does this have to start in elementary school?

Today my heart broke when I saw one of my little girls going into the bathroom to hide with big tears in her eyes. She had been teased out on the playground for something so silly, but something that sadly could lead to a loss of self worth. I was pretty upset at this site, knowing that someone out on the playground thought that it would make their status greater if they teased a sweet little girl. Well guess what? That boy's status did increase. When other kids laugh and mock along because they think it's funny, then the status keeps rising. What is this status though? Is it cool? Is it fair that people can look good at the pain of others?

Well I think we've all been here before, whether you were the one being teased, or you were the teaser. I don't have the solution to this problem and I don't know if anyone ever will, but I do know that nothing bugs me more than people who find their gain through the stabs, jabs and wounds of others. I hope that my small words to my students will somehow be embedded in them forever as they go through life, because I know through the kindness of one person lives can be changed.