I have decided I am sick of mean people.

I am sick of mean kids. Being a teacher, I see it more often than I would like to. I see kids of all ages call other kids names or make fun of other kids. I see girls tear apart other girls over their clothes or round up a gang and exclude a girl, reducing her to tears and laugh about it.

I am sick of mean adults. Adults who look down their noses at others because they don’t make enough money or live in the right ZIP code or wear the right labels on their clothes are nauseating and crappy role models for their kids. I am tired of having to hide who I vote for in elections or what I do for a living or how I feel about social issues for fear of being attacked by total strangers or, even worse, by people I know.

I am tired of internet trolls, people who talk out their asses online under pseudonyms and have nothing productive to say. Sadly, social media has given every jackass in the free world a platform to spew their hatred and misinformed opinions as fact.

In case you’re thinking I’m being hypocritical because you’ve been around me in my snarky moments, I would say I’m really not being a hypocrite. Everyone is mean at times, myself included. But I don’t idle at mean. I’m not malicious at heart. I don’t go out of my way to make people feel small. I try to be open-minded about people I meet. I try to respectfully disagree when I find myself in a discussion with someone. If I have something snarky or gossipy to say, I keep it to myself or a very select audience, like my husband who, by the way, can balance me out nicely at times since he tends to be very Pollyanic about people. When I am feeling mean, I try not to let the whole world see my meanness. A little over a decade ago, I was a hateful person. Hate consumed me. I was miserable to be around and I was exhausted. I decided not to be like that anymore. So when I feel myself being overtaken by negativity, I remember how black it makes me inside. So no, I’m not being a hypocrite. “Mean” is not a personality trait I have.

But I am sick of the mean people, and calling them out as mean doesn’t help. In fact, it seems to invigorate them, like it’s a badge of honor to be mean. So I guess I will just whine about it here while the mean people carry on.