Sadly, many of us believe once we don't know someone, it is okay to insult or troll them,bully them or cheat them. And we derive massive joy and laughter from it but we never think if we are the ones in such position, how we would feel.
For once, think about being in such position.
Everyone hides behind their keypads, you don't know their story and will never know. What goes around will definitely come back around.
I belonged to a WhatsApp group some time ago where I tried defending someone who was being trolled. And the key players decided to take it out on me.
I developed a thick skin to insults a long time ago since it'll be hard getting any point to troll me with, but these guys were mean. A lady stood out in the entire process.
This young lady would come online and drag me for their entertainment. The bullying was much and I've never met the lady in question in real life.
One day, she made a sex joke about me and I knew it was time to put things in proper perspective. When a lady makes a sex joke about you and you don't clear things, she is always right. Even if you clear things, she is still right.
So I sent her a private message and requested for permission to call. She agreed, sensing it was a perfect opportunity to nail me to a coffin finally.
"Hi, this is egetex, the guy who is the butt of all your jokes."
She was harsh in her replies but I remained calm.
I asked questions that really began to make a change in her mind.
"Do you really know me? Have we met before? Do you know the damage these mean words have done to my self confidence?"
For some seconds, she was calm. After a while, she said it doesn't matter. After all, everybody was laughing about the whole thing.
"Except me. Why did you take it upon yourself to always ridicule me? Am I really ugly? Have you seen how tall or short I am?"
"egetex, I am sorry. I never really thought about it this way. You are a total stranger so I just felt it won't harm anybody making fun of someone I don't know."
After the long talks, I sent her a few of my pictures on WhatsApp. She was shocked beyond words.
Days passed. Weeks passed.
The trolling stopped. She became my WhatsApp friend. Note that; WhatsApp friend.
One day, I was taking a nap when my phone rang. It was her.
"Hey egetex, I just sent you a message on WhatsApp. Please do reply."
I managed to check my phone. It was a message of her, professing how she has fallen in like with me and can't seem to get me out of her head.
She wants to know if I felt the same way.
I didn't want to hurt her during the day, so I deferred the answer to a later time.
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