Jessica over at The Mom Creative recently posted a You Tube link on her Facebook page. It was a speech given by Lizzie Velasquez. While Velasquez was a teenager, someone posted a short video of her on YouTube and titled it “Ugliest on the Internet.” There’s a saying, “haters’ gonna hate” and that happened to Lizzie. Viewers posted all kinds of hurtful comments, some even encouraging her to commit suicide so the world would not have to look at her. Can you imagine? Isn’t being a teenager tough enough without such cruelty? As Lizzie spoke about that time in her life I kept going back and forth between being inspired by her courage and being curious about those who taunted her in such a public way. I asked myself these questions:
- Who gets to decide who is beautiful/handsome and who is “ugly?” What makes them an authority?
- Someone who would dare post a video of someone else without permission and title it “Ugliest on the Internet”: is this person arrogant beyond measure or is his or her self-esteem so low that the only way to feel good is to belittle someone else? Or is this person just shallow and ignorant? (I don’t know the gender of the person who posted the original video. I didn’t want to watch it and give it another viewer.) I suppose people who are cruel need compassion.
- Those who “piled on” and commented, therefore perpetuating the hate: where is the decency? Ditto re: compassion.
- Why can’t people just leave each other alone?
It makes me sad to think about what this young woman went through during that dark time in her life. And I am beyond impressed that she chose to rise above it and be an inspiration to others. And so friends, I give you your Monday Morning Inspiration.
Enjoy.
Psalm 139:14
482gr8 