Mean Girls

I have a confession to make.

Growing up, when I was in elementary school, I was a brat. I talked back to my teachers, thought I knew it all, & was sent to the Principal's office about once every couple of weeks. Even still for the most part, I tried really hard to go out of my way to be nice to my classmates...except this one girl. Her name was Lisa Martinez, and for some reason I didn't like her. I would say mean things & ignore her if she was around. On occasion I would have a moral epiphany (at the age of 7) and try to be nice to her. It never lasted long.

One day while in class, I started crying, & put my head on my desk. My teacher, Mr. Ridley asked me to come up to his desk, put a chair next to him, and had me sit there. Ridley always took me under his wing and treated me like his own daughter. After class ended he asked if I was OK, but never asked what was wrong. Looking back on it, he probably knew, seeing as how I missed the entire previous week of class. My brother had just recently passed away, & I was really sad about it.

The next day Lisa started crying in class. I didn't know if she was mocking me or trying to get attention (or was actually really sad-that thought didn't cross my mind), but I let my annoyance with her build. When school was over and we were walking out she was behind me & I turned around & slapped her as hard as I could, then ran away to drill team practise. Mr. Ridley showed up, and I expected to get chewed out, but I wasn't. He said something that I have long forgotten, but it turned a light bulb on for me, and I felt awful. He had Lisa with him, and long story short I ended up crying and apologizing.

When anyone asks me what my regrets are, this one is always first to pop up. How mean I was to Lisa Martinez. I have no idea how it affected her or what she was going through in her life, but I remember all of my bullies, & it kills me to know that my face must come up when she remembers hers. This led me to be the exact opposite in middle & high school. Every time I saw anyone getting bullied, I immediately stuck up for them knowing that I would then be tortured along with them. And I was. But that's OK.

Me telling you this story was sparked by how angry/boggled I am by people who post mean things on this girl from UT, Nichole337's YouTube. She posts videos of herself singing, and people just rip her to shreds. OK, she doesn't sing the best. OK, she's obsessed with lobsters. OK, she may be a little awkward, but WHY OH WHY does that make the majority of commenter's feel the need to destroy any self esteem this girl has left? What I LOVE about her is she keeps posting despite having more dislikes than likes on all of her videos. So, it warmed my heart the other day when while watching 'Holly's World', Nichole was on it!! I don't care what anyone says about Holly, she is a good person.

I look up to both of these women.

So, when I see girls friending Nichole on Facebook, just to write mean things like this...

... don't get mad when I save & send it to everyone on your friends list that has your last name :) Hopefully one of them happens to be your parent, & they can teach you some manners.