Never Be Afraid to Speak Your Mind

I apologize, because I'm normally pretty happy and/or calm in my blog entries. But today is a rant that sparked my interest being of something that's been going on around us, and it really bothers me. 

Everything I post is entirely my opinion. You don't have to agree with me. Go ahead, you can even hate me for it. But in all honesty, I won't care. An opinion is just that...an opinion. 

Okay. So, recently something really tragic happened, and it personally affected several students in our school. It was a huge thing, and it's become a huge controversy between all of the students. I don't want to say what happened because then you'd be able to find my school and me (I know I'm just so amazing that you want my autograph, but you'll have to restrain yourselves from stalking. Yeah. That's just a bit much.)

Anyway, my friend Sarah* made a Facebook post (and this is a perfect example of why Facebook is the stupidest, most dramatic website to ever exist in the history of the internet). Her post was stating her opinion on the controversy. (This is really hard to explain without telling you the actual situation, but I'll try anyway.) Basically, her opinion wasn't exactly what the rest of the school's opinion on the matter was. This is partially because our school consists of little lemmings that just side with whatever the most people do.

Anyway, Sarah stated her opinion. I love Sarah so much, because she's a really good friend of mine. So she won't be offended when I say this: the post was a teensy bit harshly-stated. So as soon as people read it, they started reacting and causing drama.

Sarah realized that she'd made a mistake. Not with what she posted, but how she worded it. (This is crucial to the point I'm going to eventually make.) She made another post apologizing for wording her opinion the way she did. She removed the original post. But she still got tons of terrible hate. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that some comments were horrific. People have no manners or respect for others.

To make it worse, like I said, our school is full of lemmings that saw the nasty comments and decided to join in, too. The situation was growing (and still is), and Sarah really couldn't take it anymore.

But the best part? Sarah didn't back down. She never apologized for stating her opinion. She apologized for how she worded it, sure. Her opinion wasn't that harsh when she told it to me in person. That's the problem with Facebook and social media...things are misinterpreted and spiral out of control. 

Like I was saying, Sarah is an incredibly strong person. Her opinion was her opinion, and she didn't back down from it. For a few days, she was standing alone. Just about the entire school ganged up on her and cyberbullied her and made her feel unwanted and alone. But she stuck to her morals and stayed strong. And then I heard what happened. And I sent a simple Tweet, saying that Sarah's opinion was her opinion, and I supported it 100%. You know what amazing thing happened? I admitted that I agreed with her opinion. And soon enough, people started Favoriting that Tweet. And agreeing with me. And Sarah as well. Sarah stuck to her morals, and soon enough, I stood up with her. And slowly, more and more people are standing up with us, too.

(Cue cheesy motivational music.) (But you can't blame me. It's true.)

Sure, we're still outnumbered. More than half of our school still disagrees strongly (and not just in their own minds...they're posting nasty and rude things to Facebook/Twitter etc. still). We are nowhere near coming through it, and Sarah is still hated by many for it. But the difference is that we don't care. Our opinion is our opinion. I said it in the beginning of this post: You don't have to agree. You can despise me for it. But that doesn't mean you should post and Tweet horrible things about a person because they stated their opinion. If you are reading this right now and you know who Sarah really is, and you know of the situation I'm talking about, and you posted some horrible things about her...you should be ashamed. You should erase those comments. Take those posts and Tweets down. If you hate her for her opinion, go right ahead. But do it quietly. There's no reason to start a storm. A specific few of you know exactly who you are. And if you EVER hurt someone, physically or mentally, for stating their opinion...you're just as bad as the rest of them. And in a way, Sarah is stronger than you. She had the guts to stand up on her own and say what she really thought. Is that what you did? No. You ganged up on her just like everyone else did. And that's a terrible, terrible thing.

Now you probably want to know where I'm getting at in all of this. I told you this story, but why?

I'll tell you why. Sarah's being treated badly for standing up for herself and what SHE thinks. And that's such a sad thing. Most people nowadays won't stand up and speak because they're afraid of exactly what happened to Sarah--being bullied and tortured and hated. But, in reality, you're stronger than all of them. You have the guts to stand and speak your mind (even if that isn't the popular choice of the matter) when everyone else is only cowardly enough to sit behind computers and send hate and be like everyone else. I've been taught several important quotes on this matter. It does seem cheesy, yes. And over-dramatic, certainly. But they're right. What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right. Just like Sarah chose the unpopular option, but in reality, she was right for saying what she did. Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in...even if you're standing alone. It's such a sad thing that people don't speak their mind because they're afraid.

Afraid.

Afraid.

Afraid of what? A bunch of over-dramatic teenagers armed with Facebook accounts and hate fueled from the rest of the crowd?

Sweetie, that's nothing to be afraid of. In reality, they're more scared than you are. They're afraid of being uncool and unpopular and unliked if they say what they really feel.

What a shame. Because there are some pretty strong people that can change the world out there, but you'd never know it, because they're masked in a crowd of lemmings and scaredy cats.

Just something to think about.


xoxo,

Jessica
The Pastry Queen

Quote of the Day:

"Always stand up for what's right. Even if you're standing alone." -Unknown

*=Name changed for privacy reasons. 

P.S. Share this link somewhere. Facebook, Twitter, anywhere. If this inspired you, pass it on. Because I'm the voice that nobody else cares to be right now. And if you agree with me, then let's make this voice heard.