I agree with Jennifer Lawrence. What planet do we live on where Joan Rivers is qualified to criticize the appearance of anyone… or anything for that matter?

We live in a world where innocence is prosecuted. Usually by folks reeking of rightness. Mistreating others in entertainment. The Fashion Police is the lowliest form of law enforcement assaulting innocent citizens. Today, bullying has been black-eyed by sports professionals too. Unrealistic reality role models preen teens to pick on their peers. Regrettably, in the real world, you can’t edit out the haphazard hatred you hurl at others.

If you believe you’re not special enough to be different, you’re an oddity to me. Some say, teach children to have thicker skins. Is that easier than teaching them to be kind? Mean children grown into mean adults. If you don’t believe me, look around you.

Never aspire to see eye-to-eye with a bully. They want to bring you down to their level. Truly big people have strapping strong shoulders from lifting others up to greater possibilities. People trying to hurt you may seem to be in charge but they’re rarely in control.

Confident and conceit are kissing cousins. Insecurity and superiority are evil stepsisters. The biggest bullies have the smallest minds. Take David and Goliath. David’s greatest weapon wasn’t a stone. He towered over terror because he had rock solid faith. I guess, you’d say, David had some pretty big stones. Someone significant encouraged his confidence.

We all face Goliaths. Giants come in unassuming sizes. Little people with big positions hit hardest. I knew a matronly, yet malicious, silver haired matriarch with a shaky sense of self-importance that made every grownup in her care cry. She felt she had embezzled her career by using an uncle’s influence to take possession of a job. Her inadequacies contaminated an entire culture. Perhaps, her Goliath was unrequited love from someone she couldn’t please. To this day, she remains a sympathetic soul to me. Still, I never cried.

No matter how unintentional, battling personal demons recklessly in public leaves collateral damage. So when you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place, throw a softball. Don’t swing thoughtlessly and slice down innocent people while slaying your own giant. Rise above it and aim higher!

– Jim Shock, LBSPY #47 (Dec 2-16, 2013)