I think it’s safe to say we have all seen Ms. Spears in the news lately with her new, or should I say lack of, hairdo. Many comedians and late-night talk show hosts are seeing her as easy prey for opening jokes. All except for Craig Ferguson, host of “The Late Late Show” on CBS, who chooses not to poke fun because he claims, “We shouldn’t be attacking the vulnerable.” I think that Ferguson is doing a pretty noble thing by not making jokes about the singer in mid-breakdown. Taking all of this into consideration, I also think that normal, non-celebrity citizens should take this advice.
I have heard, more than once, people laughing at physically-handicapped people when they are having problems getting around – such as up the stairs or in and out of vehicles – and it makes me sick to my stomach. I always wonder to myself what sort of pleasure these sick people get out of laughing at someone with disabilities. Are these people running so low on self-esteem that they have to benefit from others’ disadvantages? My mind is still boggled.
I also hear people make fun of others because they aren’t just like them. Say someone is walking past you on campus, and they just happen to have bright pink hair and rainbow-colored socks on. I’ve seen many people gawk at these eccentric people only because their hair isn’t the normal color, or they aren’t wearing “normal” clothes. I don’t understand why someone should care about a random person walking by when they have caused no harm to them. I think that some of the time people dressed like this want attention that they haven’t gotten somewhere else in their lives. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but even people who dress in clothes that are considered popular are usually doing it as a form of acceptance. Instead of acting as though these people are horribly weird, maybe we should just start smiling and show a little kindness.
We never know a stranger’s story, and even though we might not think it’s a good one, it isn’t ours to tell. A person can keep all his or her problems bottled up inside for only so long before he or she does something extreme, such as in Spears’ case of shaving her head. And the physically impaired can’t help what has happened to their bodies. I’m a firm believer in the fact that karma is indeed what everyone says it is, and I think what goes around comes around.
There is also an old saying that goes, “We are not what we say of ourselves, but rather we are what we say of others.” So when you are making fun of someone else, what are you really saying about yourself?