Safe Haven?

People are sick. Today I have lost SO much of my faith in humanity. This won't be my usual "look everything works out in the end" kind of blog post. I can't. I know I posted yesterday but what I saw and read today impacted me so much that I couldn't help but say something.

I was on Facebook and I saw a picture from one of the sites I have 'liked' of a mother who had no legs, holding and kissing her baby, sitting on a skateboard to try and get around. The caption said "like if you think she is a good mother". I clicked on it because I was curious. I 'liked' it and then clicked over to another picture. This was a picture of a young boy with a GIANT grin on his face. He looked so happy! He was running a race with prosthetic legs. He didn't care if he was last, he didn't care that he didn't have legs, he cared that he was running and moving and doing things people probably said he would never be able to do. I 'liked' that one as well and was so happy about it that I decided to read the comments. The things I read...were awful. Most of the comments on this particular picture were congratulating him and mentioning how he inspired them, but there were just enough comments that made fun of him, called him a cheat and asked others to do the same... I felt awful.

This is him. How can you make fun of that? Can people really be so miserable and unhappy that they have to make fun of this young boy's joy?

I clicked back to the picture of the mother with no legs and wanted to see what people said about her. I shouldn't have even looked. Even more comments were here about how no one would want to love her or have sex with her so the baby was probably not her's. I want to know why does that matter? The child is, in fact, her's, but why would it matter? If she adopted then fine! At least she is taking care of it and giving it all the love it needs and deserves!

I started to feel sick to my stomach as I read more of the comments about this inspirational lady. She lives her life as fully and as normally as she can despite her handicap and people just look down on her and make fun of her. There were a few that defended her, but not as many as I would have hoped.

This was the last picture I clicked on. This poor child has a HANDPRINT bruised onto her FACE. What would you say if you saw this? Would you say it was just photoshopped? Would you say she deserved it? Would you basically say you are pro-abuse because children are annoying? If you are, I don't even know what to say to you. What kind of person are you? The sad thing is... that was the majority of the comments I saw. There were very, very few that mentioned feeling bad for her and wanting to stop child abuse. In fact, maybe 2 out of 10 comments where those kind. This picture, is the saddest of all of them, but it had the most inhumane comments. Or maybe they were humane since apparently most of the social networking society doesn't care that people, CHILDREN, are being abused.

I couldn't even click on the picture of the starving African children, I was too afraid of what I might read. What has our world come to? I realize many people may see me as sheltered, but if being sheltered is what keeps me compassionate and empathetic, then I am more than happy to remain inside my safe haven. In what world is it okay to be a bully? Even to people you have never met! These people, all of them, need help! And what do we give them? Nothing but scorn and hateful laughter.

After I looked at these pictures and read those atrocious comments, I needed time to myself. I closed the office door and cried. And cried, and cried. I've been teary the entire time I have written this blog and I was hoping that by the end maybe I would come to an understanding of how people can be so awful, but I haven't. There is no excuse. None at all. I would have commented on these pictures, but I knew that my remarks would only be scorned just as much. They would laugh, call me a 'troll', insult me and continue to insult these individuals. I saw it happen and I wanted the hate to stop. This is my way of reaching out to these individuals, even though they will probably never know that I wrote this blog, this is my way of telling these people that they inspire me, they urge me to help change the world, they help me remain human as my Father in Heaven wants me to be. I don't laugh at them, I don't scorn them, I don't condemn them. I love them and my heart and prayers reach out to them. I just hope that someday, those individuals who thought these photos are funny realize just how wrong they are. I hope they realize all they do is make this world a much worse place to be.