Sports

Top Personality Tip: Scoffers are losers! Don’t be one or more!

Scoffers are losers. That’s why they make fun of it. If you already feel bad about yourself, why not spread negative karma? You may find yourself in certain situations where you think the person being mocked is “cool” as long as they aren’t directed at you. Teasing or teasing is never okay. Why not?

Children and adults make fun of others to feel “better” or “superior” for a short period of time. In the long run, it proves that scoffers are losers. There is something radically wrong when a person tries to feel good by making fun of others. Taking others down, especially in front of a crowd, is never a good idea. When you make fun of others, you are putting them down and showing others what a loser you are.

Samuel M. Silver wrote: “To belittle is to be small. To be grateful is to be great.” Please don’t be small. Praise others. If you really feel bad, choose a lamp. Right now I want you to point at a lamp. Say: “Lamp, you are the dumbest lamp ever invented!” Now freeze! Look at your hand. How many fingers are pointing at you? My guess is three. Your index finger is telling the lamp that it’s dumb, and three fingers are pointing at you! So who’s really dumb, you or the lamp?

Of course, you are not a fool or a loser. But kids who feel good about themselves and the direction their lives are taking don’t make fun of others. They accept others as they are, warts and all.

For years I only had one “rule” posted in my classroom: “You shall not make fun of others.” Yeah, I wanted it to sound almost religious, and if you only have one rule, it becomes the law of the land. No matter how old we are, we don’t want to be made fun of. We want to be treated fairly and well by others. That one rule turned a group of kids into one big extended family. We became a small community that cared and trusted each other. Introducing the “no teasing rule” on the first day of school was like waving a magic wand that brought us all together as friendly learners. Because?

The bottom line is that feelings always matter in life, especially in a classroom. And every student knew that when they walked into my classroom. I told the class the first day that your feelings were just as important as your big toe. No one wants to get stepped on or stepped on their big toe.

At school, as a student and a teacher, I was good at not teasing, but I did joke around in some silly ways. Sometimes when a student corrected me in class, I would slowly approach him or her with my arms outstretched, like I was Frankenstein. Then I would gently put my hands close to her neck. At this point the whole class was laughing. And, if I’d been a bit annoyed at being corrected, when Frankenstein got to his victim, Frankie was smiling too. With the whole class smiling, he would slide me to the front of the class and start teaching again. They always enjoyed the break in the usual routine.

I might consider this behavior unusual for a teacher, but being funny in unexpected ways was part of the fun of teaching. Children like teachers with a good sense of humor who are willing to laugh with them, take life easy, and not make fun of others.

However, as a child, I did not like to be called “Silly Sottile”. He annoyed me. Nobody likes to be teased. I tried to ignore any taunting of my name. Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes it wasn’t.

As an author, I just hope you remember my last name. “Silly So-til-e” works for me. I no longer consider him to be making fun of me. I like the alliteration in saying it that way. It rhymes, and the kids remember my name longer that way.

If you’re being made fun of, it’s always good to remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” In other words, you have some control over your reaction to nasty words.

However, it is true that sticks and stones break bones, and mocking words CAN HURT, but the real losers are those who need to mock others to spread their own misery.

Be happy that you are not one of them because they can never really love themselves or feel happy. In other words, don’t be like them. or else you’ll never really feel happy. They must share their misery to feel much of anything. How sad! Such losers! I’d rather encourage sunshine (and liking myself!) than rain down on someone’s sense of self worth or dignity. What about you?