With all that is going on in the world today, one can't help but wonder if there is a heaven or a hell . I think that heaven and hell are not places rather states of mind. One's state of mind clearly dictates one's actions. Many people create hell for themselves as well as for other people. I am here to say that bullies, are not in heaven. That isn't to say they cannot ever get to a state of heaven. But while they are in bully role, they are clearly not in heaven, nor are they creating heaven around them.I have been on line for about ten years, and have experienced many personalities on line. Virtual life is no different from regular life, in that people hide behind various masks and display both good and bad behavior. Like in our actual life, on line, we either create heaven or hell. One of the characteristics people display that creates hell is the act of being a bully. We don't always find them in the school yard. We can encounter them at the work place, in our families and sitting right in our own home facing a computer screen. An interesting fact about bullies is that they have their day in sun, but sooner or later they implode and go into hiding. That is exactly what happened with one such bully on line. I watched a transformation of being 'respected' and liked, to literally withdrawing 'publically' on line because of her bullying and negativity.
The act of bullying while it is active for a while, will ALWAYS eventually come and kick the bully right in her/his own butt. It took almost 10 years, but it has happened and when I think about it, what did this person accomplish? In the beginning there might have been some goodness, sharing information. But all too soon the fear in the soul of this person bubbled up slowly like Mt. St. Helen's. The bully in this person, reared it's head with the manipulation of others who shared this person's interest, to taking a critical view on the subject matter of her interest. Just recently over the past six months, this person has virtually crawled into a cave and has withdrew publically, claiming that other people have been either verbal or lurking where she was not comfortable. That is another thing about bullies, they can dish it out but they have a lot of trouble taking the same behavior they thrust on others. What is very sad about this person and other bullies like her, is that hell is created for the victims of their prey, as well as the hell they have created for themselves. When you think about it, this is pathetic. It is a lose/lose situation. No one wins. What is even more sad, is that bullies are taught their behavior during their childhood. Many bullies are bullied by parents or siblings, or other school yard bullies. So the behavior is learned and then passed on.
Do bullies get to go to heaven? That is a hard one as I am not God, but I can say that the bully karma they send out DOES come back and bites them in their butt. The energy we put out comes back to us and sooner or later, we experience our own behavior coming back, be it good or painful. I look at this particular bully who is about four years older than I am and I think to myself, at my age, I want to work hard to embrace the behavior of compassion. It is easy to feel compassion for the victims of bullies, or kind hearted people. But one of the real hard lessons in life is to have compassion for the bullies too. This is NOT easy for me, but then again, that is a major lesson of life. I think Jesus said forgive your enemies. That is a challenge and an ongoing goal of mine. I know that to have compassion for the bullies is a key to creating heaven.
Creating heaven, requires hard work and surrendering to the fact that holding on to hate and animosity toward the bullies of the world only creates hell, the very opposite of heaven itself. So while, I don't miss seeing this particular bully on line, part of me feels sorry for her, because she lives in the hell of her creation. But then she is no different than most of us in that sense. We create our own heaven and or hell.
I would like to spend the rest of my life creating heaven. And with the help of God, I will accomplish my goal.
No need for forgiveness. Ignoring bullies will annoy them more than anything else. Bullies seek attention, even if the only attention they can get is negative. They rule their online domain through fear, but eventually people stop fearing them. Once their veneer is seen through, they become victims of bullying themselves. As evidenced, some then slink back under the rock they crawled out from. That is indeed a hell of their own making.
ReplyDelete