flawed

The anti bullying work I did for 5 years was brilliant – I loved being part of such a lovely team and the work we did was life changing. At heart, it was based on the truth that every one of us is worthwhile and deserves to be treated as such. Pretty much all of us have got hurt at some point – young people's oppression is such that all of us have been thought of as lesser by an adult at some point along the way. And in addition to that, we all experience all kinds of mistreatment. It can be really hard not to pass on those hurts that we still carry. This week I was struggling with a situation and muttered under my breath only the person I was muttering about heard it and was devastated. Conversely, I've also found it hard to be on the receiving end of people's hurts this week. When we have unhealed stuff of our own, it can be hard not to take the hurt of others as some further proof of whatever it is we're struggling with. I know I can quickly spiral into thinking that it is deserved. That is the ongoing impact of bullying – that a person is no longer able to see clearly their worth but believes that the insults are only to be expected. When of course, none of us – whether we are lashing out at others or being got at ourselves – deserve to be in that position. What we do deserve is love, love, more love and some good support so that we are able to go on loving ourselves and every other flawed person too.