Kindness and compassion are two things that are very important to me. When I let someone ruin my day or get me worked up it’s so upsetting to me. I want to be one of those people where the glass is half full all the time. And yet this week, I had lost some of my faith in human beings. A doctor who made a terrible error had refused to take responsibility, and what’s worse is the woman who referred me to him and could verify his lies didn’t come forward out of fear of her own liability (despite the fact I gave up my rights to hold her in any way accountable.) I’ve always believed that people are good and when it counts down to it they will do the right thing, although in this case I was disappointed and instead spent the better part of the week feeling utterly bullied and beat up in court.
Something that made me feel better was during my usual morning blog reads, I came upon a link to Secret Deodorant’s Mean Stinks campaign. To date, Mean Stinks has connected with more than 1.5 million girls to spread awareness about girl-to-girl bullying. They inspired girls to “Gang Up for Good” by creating 1.3 million acts of “good.” Girls were encouraged to take a proactive role in standing-up to bullying and sharing their #NiceAdvice with each other via social media. Thousands of girls across the country took “blue pinky swears” — painting their pinkies blue as a visual reminder of their promise.
So on Wednesday when I learned about the campaign I promptly painted my pinkies blue and whenever I felt let down, I literally looked down at my hands and felt more inspired.
It’s an all year round initiative that isn’t going anywhere! Check out the Mean Stinks social channels on Facebook and twitter/instagram at @MeanStinks, to find out the latest on how to get involved (hashtag #BluePinky and #GangUpforGood). Learn at meanstinks.com