How Can I Best Support You?
I offer you my support.
I am fortunate to never have been sexually harassed or assaulted. But I know a tremendous number of people who have been. I believe you, and offer you my support.
We are all in this world together. Every single one of us wants to live the best possible life we can. And yet, there are people who do not think about how their actions effect others. Some of it is simple thoughtlessness, some a matter of ignorance, some is malicious.
You and I are the only ones responsible for our actions. Even if we ourselves are not victims of harassment or assault, we can still take an active role in looking out for our family, our friends, and even random strangers to stop such things when they happen.
This is a matter of positivity. I will stand up for you, and will call someone out when I see them acting inappropriately. I’ll tell them what they are doing is wrong, and I will call for them to apologize, make amends, and more – to correct such actions in the future.
How many people will post “Me Too” to social media before we realize there is a systemic problem? Our society is fraught with misogyny and rape culture and other matters that we as individuals can better police. We don’t need more laws to protect people…we need more accountability. The time has come to not just sit back and watch when harassment happens, but to take actions and actively stop it.
Support is not passive.
I have been fortunate to not have been sexually harassed or assaulted. But if I ever encounter someone being attacked, online or in person, I will not just ignore it. I will call the offender out. There will be intervention. I will stand beside the person being violated, and express to the aggressor that he or she is in the wrong.
Support is not just saying I stand with you…it is actively taking a roll in letting abusers know they are in the wrong. The positivity that comes of standing together, and taking an active role in fighting harassment and assault is incredible.
When we work together to recognize, call-out, and stand-up against abuse, we can lessen it for everyone. Confrontation can be uncomfortable, but I imagine being harassed and assaulted is far worse.
Take a stand. Support one another actively, and let’s end the cycles of harassment and assault.
Finding positivity is not hard, but it does require action.
Knowing that we have too many people in our lives who have been sexually harassed and assaulted, even if we have not experienced the same, we can take actions to break the cycle. When we actively support those who have been attacked, and we call-out and stand up against abusers, we return empowerment to those being attacked, and we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings in the collective consciousness. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.
This is the one hundred ninety-third entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.
Please take a moment to subscribe to this blog (even if you’ve done so before – new service set up!), and receive your bonus content.
Follow me here!