Just be Nice!

This is a poem I wrote for one of my friends almost 2 years ago when I found out she was cutting.

"Pizza box on the floor
The couch is empty
Wide open is the door
She's laying in bed
Surrounded by tissues
Thinking she can't go on like this

She can't face her family
She ignores all her friends

'Nuff said.

Thinking she'd just bring them shame                           
She knows that self mutilation
Is such a devastation
But no one will help her
She has no where to turn
No one to blame
But herself
Or so she thinks

Maybe if people these days were not posers
Maybe if she could find
Someone not fake
She could get out of this hole
She put herself in
And begin to enjoy her life again

But not without help
Not without a shoulder to cry on
And these days
That's so hard to find
That's why I'm here today
To offer you mine"

I've been on both sides of this. I've been the cutter (written about here) and I've been the shoulder to lean on and through both of these I've realized that people can be flat out mean! Last night I was watching MTV's The Challenge:Rivals (there was NOTHING on TV last night) and some people started arguing. Some of the things they said were crazy to hear. How could someone say these things to another human being??

"I hate you! I hate you SO much!"
"No one likes you. No one (bleep) likes you."
"Stupid reject of a life. What else do you have to say? You have fake boobs. You're anorexic. You can't get a (bleep) husband. You don't have kids. Your ugly... Cry your (bleep) heart out you anorexic (bleep)! I want you to cry because you are worthless!"

?! Those were words coming out of grown men and women. Adults. Great role models, eh?

Anyways, I know for a fact that these words aren't only being thrown around on some bad, scripted reality show. They're being thrown out in schools, through texts, on the Internet, even in some homes. It's crazy. These words are part of the reason about one-third of young girls and almost 22% of people ages 11-19 have self-harmed (Affinity Health Care, 2008).

Now, I know that words alone are not the only thing to drive people to self-harm. Mine wasn't caused by mean words. But think of how many cases might not have happened if someone would've just kept their mouth shut, or said something nice instead, or even just shared a caring smile.

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Be nice... please. :D