Anti-Bullying... or Kindness?

Second Life is having an anti-bullying day today. When I was a kid (the first time around)- I was the fat kid who really never dressed well and was uber nerdy. I spent a lot of time during college learning that I really was an awesome person and developing self-confidence to believe that anything I'd been told before probably wasn't true.

Being bullied as as kid stunk, but I survived, and maybe I'm a better person now because of it... or so I'd like to think. But here's the thing- bullying isn't necessary for character development- while it definitely affects those who are subjected to it, it doesn't mean we NEED it!

Bullying isn't just pushing and shoving. In fact, physical contact isn't event needed to be bullied by other people. I think of the most dangerous factor relating to bullying is the detrimental effect to self-esteem and people feeling like they can't control the situation and they're helpless.

Bullying isn't exclusive to RL. It happens here in Second Life as well, and we need to be aware of our interactions with all people. I think it's probably easier to be a bully in SL because it's easy to feel like you're totally anonymous here. People can be numerous avatars and they can "slip" on new personas easily.

So here's the dealio- we need to be kinder to people. I think instead of anti-bullying day, we should have a Be Kind to People We Don't Like to be Kind to Day. It's really easy to say that I don't bully people.... but am I actually kind to everyone I interact with? Do I really treat them as I want to be treated? Do I treat those who slightly annoy me with patience and kindness?  If we all could do this we'd be leaps closer to being a better society. 

So really, let's take a stand and try to be kinder and more tolerant to one another- that's the challenge I think we need to accept!