Bullying: Learning How to Love

When I was growing up, bullying was a problem in my community. I remember as a child being bullied after school or on the playground by other kids. But it seems that in recent years bullying has become an even greater problem and continues to get worse year after year. It used to be, that people only had to worry about being bullied when they were at school. But with the rise of mobile technology like cell phones, twitter and Facebook, bullying becomes a 24-hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year event. Essentially, there is no safe place to escape being bullied.

This constant bombardment of bullying is known as "Cyber Bullying." Essentially, cyber bullying is having harmful statements or pictures posted to websites, Facebook pages, text messages, etc. The reason it is so pervasive is that in a matter of seconds by a simple touch of a button, hundreds of thousands of people are exposed to these harmful statements. No longer is bullying limited to a small community or school. Now bullying can be worldwide in a matter of seconds.  

I recently attended a training event sponsored by the United Methodist Church where the issue of bullying was discussed. One of the presenters lifted up a passage from the Bible which is commonly known as "The Golden Rule." This passage states, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves; the key being the last part love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I believe, and so did the presenter of this workshop, that bullying is on the rise because kids and adults are having difficulty loving themselves. It's as though they find themselves unlovable and to help lift themselves up, they tear others down.

We who work with children, youth and young adults can help by teaching people that they are loved by God and that they should love who they are. I have always believed that if you don't get anything else out of church, you should get the fact that we should be about loving others and ourselves. So if you know of those persons who are being bullied, surround them with your love and support as much as you can but most importantly remember bully, they need love too!