Lift people up, don’t tear them down

Your adversities don’t excuse your s—– personality

By Megan Keleman

Managing Editor

Nobody has a perfect life — no matter how it may seem on the outside. Some people choose to keep their problems to themselves, and that is OK. Some people choose to rely on their support system for advice or help, and that is OK too. 

What is not OK is taking out your overwhelming amounts of anger, guilt, hatred or whatever negative emotions you have, out on others. 

Just because you are not happy with something in your life does not give you the right to take it out on someone by treating them like s—. 

Remember those super cheesy “pass it on” posters that everyone had in at least one of their elementary school classrooms that had to do with a character trait? In one of my classrooms, one said “it’s contagious” for happiness. 

That almost meaningless poster has stuck with me ever since. It is just something so simple, yet it speaks volumes. Happiness is forceful. One simple act of kindness can brighten someone’s day or even save their life. 

Countless suicidal people have said that someone did something nice for them, as simple as just a stranger smiling at them, and that small act impacted them so much that they didn’t follow through with taking their own lives. That is powerful. 

Happiness is the most powerful force on this planet. Happiness is free and costs you nothing. Smiling at someone takes no time out of your day. 

Complimenting a stranger takes seconds but the impact it can have in their self-confidence is huge. Treating the people that are in your life with the respect they deserve is not hard.

Just because you feel down does not mean you get to, in-turn, treat others like s— and make them feel horrible too. Ruining other people’s happiness is not something anyone should set out to do intentionally. It is just plain rude and uncalled for.

To overcome adversities, you must prevail in spite of the cards you are dealt with. At times, it may seem so overwhelming that you question how you are going to handle this — but remember that you are a strong person and you would not be put into situations that you could not handle. 

If you want to experience a successful and victorious life, you have to be able to not only endure adversity but overcome it as well. This means being able to stand up against anything that comes your way. 

Being able to handle the rough storm, knowing the calm eye of the storm is within distance. Even in moments of life’s ups and downs, you must be able to come out triumphant. 

Surrounding yourself with positive people is a great way to help you in challenging times because their happiness is contagious. It is OK to have moments of self-doubt and lack of confidence when situations are hard, but that is not an excuse to live a life of constant despair and hatred for the world and those in it. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a bad attitude is also contagious. How you react to others and treat others can also cause them to have a negative backlash towards others. 

Starting a chain reaction can be  exciting — when it has a meaningful purpose. 

Just because you are having a s—– day or having a hard time dealing with something, does not give you the right to pass that along to someone else.