Remember Gabby Douglas, the first African American female who won a gold medal in gymnastics at the Olympics in 2012? Do you also remember how her history making performance somehow got turned into a conversation about her hair? When I first heard of the absurd remarks about this talented and remarkable young girl, slogans from my childhood began to resound loudly in my head.
If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all!
Don't judge a book by its cover.
What goes around comes around.
Think before you speak!
Treat Others the Way You Want to be Treated!
The last one is looked upon as The Golden Rule and it reminds me of the love your neighbor as yourself scripture in the bible which is considered the Great Commandment.
Yet, from birth we are a group of humans that are me, me, me oriented. Everything is about us and we make life so much about us that we don't even know how to put other people before ourselves. We actually have to be taught this. Study any young child. Children spend their life thinking about what they can eat, what they can play with, and how can they stay up past their bedtime. Toddlers all around the world know how to scream the words "Mine!" but must be taught how to share. When kids play a game, they play to win. The "It doesn't matter rather you win or lose, it's how you play the game." slogan doesn't fly with most kids. They have to be taught that its okay for someone else to win and some grown folks still doesn't agree with the statement.
The same thing goes for adults. Being an adult that is now in my thirties, (where did the time go?) I noticed that the issues that we all face as an adult wouldn't even be issues at all, if we would adhere to the golden rule. Issues such as name calling, back biting, gossiping, cheating, stealing, physical abuse, hating, jealousy, being stingy and the desire to see other's fail have no place in the lives in someone who follows the Golden Rule.
Yet, there's not a day that goes by that I'm not able to see these exact issues going on on FB, in the news, on television shows, and on my own job as school teacher. Life can sometimes appear like we are all crabs in a crab barrel; not only do we pull each other down, but we talk about each other, beat each other up, and tear at a the legs, hoping that they can never get to the top and out of the crab barrel.
That's what the world witnessed happen to Gabby Douglas. A very beautiful and young crab crawled out the crab barrel (at a very young age) and instead of rejoicing and celebrating her accomplishments, a large number of people ignored the golden rule and found something negative to say. Instead of celebrating the extreme discipline, talent, work ethic, perseverance, dedication, and mind control a young person must have to accomplish such an achievement that the majority of people will never accomplish in a lifetime, people searched high and low to find something negative to say. I for one will say there are many times when my hair doesn't look like I stepped off a set of a glamour photo shoot. Nor does it always need to be. There is a time and a place for everything and I was so proud that Gabby knew how to prioritize and chose what was most important. Training, eating right, making sacrifices, and putting all that she has into her talent, getting to the Olympics, and bringing home the gold is what was important. We can learn a lot about success, dedication, and class from this fascinating teenager Gabby Douglas. In addition to being the first and youngest African American Olympic Gold Medalist Gymnast, she is also someone who practices the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. Even when she had the opportunity to respond to her critics, Gabby turned the other cheek and took the high road.
Just think, if we all followed the Golden Rule, there would be no school bullies, no songs/shirts about haters, no random shootings, no city bombings, and no conversations about a teenage Olympic Gold Medalist's hair. I'm sure when you accomplish something great, you want people to be happy for you at the very least. As a human race, we hate to be judged, talked about and condemned, especially during one of the highest moments of our life. And if we don't want anyone to treat us this way, what gives us the right to treat a young teenage girl like this? I'm challenging every adult to step up. Let's set the example of the golden rule with our teenagers because they are watching us. Once we begin to be the change that needs to take place in the world, the young people in our lives will follow suite.
For more writings from Shira Dillon click here.
Shira Dillon is a high school teacher in South, Central Los Angeles. Shira has over 15 years experience working with teenagers and is an expert with helping them and their parents deal with teenage issues. Ms. Dillon is the author of the book Sex, Drugs, and Other Elephants: How To Deal With Teenage Issues that share true stories from the authors life, as well as true stories from teenagers and how they deal with their problems. Order the book by going to www.heyiwantthatbook.blogspot.com For a consultation, email me at shiradillo@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter @ShiraNicole
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