Bullies

Yesterday I emailed back and forth with another babylost mama who feels shunned and at times attacked by other blogging babylost mamas. Our discussion led me to think about bullies. While the majority of this community is incredibly supportive, there are some among us who quite simply fit the definition of bullies. When I first started blogging just weeks after E died, I encountered my first bully within the community of babylost mamas. For nearly a year now, I've yet to mention on my blog the encounter and my awareness that my words were copied and pasted onto another babylost mama's blog. My opinions, my intelligence, and my specific personal beliefs were criticized, ridiculed, and dismissed. Even now, my heart beats faster, my mind races, and my hair stands on end as I write about what I can only describe as a bully attack.

I know we don't all agree on everything. We share different beliefs, religions, perspectives, and personalities. Really, our differences are practically endless. And I know we each are entitled to our individual opinions which we hopefully can freely express without fear of ridicule akin to that which occurs in a junior high locker room. But when we specifically pick on an individual, when we attack that fellow human's intelligence and dignity, that is unacceptable. When we sink so low that we feel it is our right to 'expose' what we perceive as other babylost mamas' stupidity, our community slowly becomes a landmine preventing babylost mamas the opportunity to fully express and relieve themselves of their personal pain.