I love this bumper sticker ~ tt’s one of my all time favorites.  It conveys a lot in three little words.  Mean People Suck. 

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all screwed up at one time or another and been mean.  I know I’ve been mean.  I’ve used my blog to write about the times I’ve screwed up and treated someone in a less than favorable way.  I’ve been a sucky, mean person both to strangers and family alike but I try and work hard to make amends with strangers, family, and friends too, when I screw up.  Most of the time my apology is accepted and we move on…either to a better place in our relationship if it was a close friend or family or we just simply move on if it was a stranger who was caught up in a bad day of mine. 

There have also been times when I have been kicked to the curb so hard I didn’t know whether or not I’d be able to get up again.  Mean people suck.  But I’ve learned to get back up, dust myself off, lick my wounds, forgive and moved on. 

Mean people don’t just have to be those who are overtly nasty.  I think mean people are also those who hold grudges, all the while touting forgiveness, but don’t really forgive.  I think mean people are also ones who subject you to the silent treatment when you’ve behaved badly. They are the ones who do some serious damage in relationships.  I know all about those types of people.  I used to be one.  I used to hold grudges and subject people to the silent treatment when I was angry or hurt.

But, thankfully, I learned how to work through and talk through bad feelings instead of shutting down and
shutting out those I care most about.  Now when I’m mean or angry, it’s out there.  No two ways about it.  When I’m angry, it’s known.  I think it’s easier this way.  I can work to get the anger out, get over any bullshit and move on. 

I hope I teach my children, and teach them well, the value of conflict resolution and the value of forgiveness.  I hope I teach them never to hold a grudge and subject someone they care about to the silent treatment when the other person has been mean or behaved less than favorably.  I hope I teach them that talking to one another is the only way to resolve bad feelings and nasty issues.

I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.  But I need to teach them that Mean People Suck.

Oh for the love of my children…