Have You Ever Made Fun Of Someone
By Rozie37
@Rozie37 (15499)
Turkmenistan
June 6, 2008 2:08am CST
And lived to regret it when you found out the truth? There was a guy living in my building about a year and a half ago. He smelled so bad. You could smell him long before you saw him. It was the most awful thing I had ever smelled. One day, he passed by my room and I was sitting near my window. I could smell him even though the window was shut tight.
My friend and I had started commenting and making faces every time we saw him. Even when he could hear us. We showed no compassion at all. One day, I mentioned to the staff how it is not fair for people to live here if they are not willing to bathe. That is when I found out that this smell was caused by the fact that this guy had cancer of the knee.
There have not been many times in my life when I have felt worse than I did at that moment. Soon after that, he was taken to the hospital and he never returned. I have forgiven myself and I know that God has forgiven me also. But I learned a very valuable lesson from that. Whether I know the story or not, I need to show compassion. Even if it was from lack of bathing, it still meant that something was wrong. If that were me, it would tear me up inside to hear others, even strangers, making fun of me.
I know, because it happened a lot during my childhood. How quickly we forget what it feels like to be mistreated. I know that I never want to do anything like that ever again. So have you ever been guilty of this? Be honest, you will feel better, I do.
2 people like this
10 responses
@Timothy31 (649)
• United States
7 Jun 08
Unfortunately i have to admit that i have in the past made fun of people. I know it isn't right but i have done it. I of course completely regret doing it the times that i have done it but we can't change the stupid things we have done it the past i wish we could though.
1 person likes this
@Savvynlady (3684)
• United States
7 Jun 08
I feel I have been made fun more so than made fun of someone. As a child, I was made fun of and to this day, I never forgot it. Like right now, there is a guy at work I like, and I fret as to whether or not I should call him or say hi or whatever. I don't approve of it. I don't care of it and don't like it when folks are being treated as such which is why I am for the underdog. I won't say I NEVER made fun. nope, I have but for the most part, I don't forget what I endured.
1 person likes this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
7 Jun 08
I know what you mean. I got teased through my school years. Either for my glasses or being taller than every one else. I am extemely soft-hearted in most circumstances, but this just seemed so unfair. He really should not have been here with a smell like that, but it was no excuse for me to be so mean.
@lissavalerian (247)
• United States
7 Jun 08
SavvynLady, I wanted to respond to your post here. You mention that you were made fun of as a child and that even to this day you haven't forgotten. I have had that experience as well. It's not something I care for much either.
It seems that there is always that kid, the one that everyone makes fun of, last picked in gym class, made fun of, if not outright tortured through the rest of the year. I was that kid. Kids can be so damn cruel. And you're right - we never forget. Even as adults, even as we carry on the rest of our lives, it is hard to forget those kinds of scars.
I just wanted to comment on your post because that brought to mind my own childhood experiences and, I dunno, I just felt a bit of pain, anguish, to think that anyone else had to go through anything like what I went through as a kid.
I too do my best to not make fun of other people, and I'm quick to interject when others are treating someone else in a demeaning way. It's just that, as this thread has demonstrated, you just simply don't know the whole story of what someone is going through, what their experiences are.
1 person likes this
@samson1967 (7414)
• India
6 Jun 08
All that we think is not true. Just Yesterday I had to travel by bus with my friend. We were standing as there was no seat. Accidentally my bag, which was hanging on my hip thouched a person who was sitting behind me. As soon as it touched, he immediately pushed my bag which made me angry. I turned around and asked him why he should get so upset. Politely he replied "sir your bag hit my eyes very hard, hence I reacted immediately Please dont misunderstand me". He voluntarily took my bag and carried it till my destination.
1 person likes this
@kwenge (2487)
• Kenya
6 Jun 08
I have made fun of my workmate recently. She is a new staff and the first time she came she had a really bad stench and it was soo strong. We even nicknamed her a very bad name that goes hand in hand with her smell. I even told her to take a bath every morning but she dint talk anything. One day I realised I had done something wrong. I went and bought my favorite perfume/spray, wrapped it nicely with a gift wrapper and handed it to her one morning. From then she never smells bad and she opened up to me and told me she has a natural smell and she even smells in the shower. I adviced her to shower with vinegar and now she is ok. I am proud to have made mends wuth her and she is now my friend.
It feel bad when people make fun of you without knowing your real problem.
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
7 Jun 08
I don't think I have. My mother and grandmother insisted that we never make fun of anyone, and, in fact, encouraged us to bring home any kids who might get picked on in school. In jr. high, there were a bunch of us called the "2x2s". Each one of us was too something - too shy, too fat, too thin, too smart, too dumb. We all banned together and were the best of friends.
Throughout my lifetime, I find myself befriending the lonely people that no one else wants to be around.
That smell - the smell of cancer - is a very distinct one. I first smelled it when a friend of mine had a cancerous mole and they had to take most of her heel off. When I visited her in the hospital I could not believe the horrible smell. The nurse explained that it was the cancer and the treatments that caused the smell.
1 person likes this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
7 Jun 08
Normally, I am a very compassionate person and would even get upset with a friend who talked bad about someone. But in the last few years, I have become a little insensitive to people who smell bad and don't bathe. The place where I live, a big portion of the residents rarely ever bathe if at all.
I have to sit next to them while and be around them and it is terribly offensive. Could you imagine eatting next to a person who has not had a bath in months or even years?
@ssh123 (31073)
• India
6 Jun 08
Knowingly or unknowingly I have made fun of many persons and when I realized, I felt ashamed of myself and tendered my apologies. I feel it is not right to make fun of others, particularly when we are in a group. It also depends if there are only two, and may be the other person enjoys the fun.
1 person likes this
@ajayrekha (491)
• India
7 Jun 08
I never make fun of others and never I like others to make fun. I really dont want to hurt anybody by mistake and feel irritated if some body do it. It disturbs me even if some body else is making fun of some one else in front of me. I try to stop it as soon as possible with my effort. Sorry if you find me boring, I am like this only.
1 person likes this
@asereht1970 (424)
• Philippines
7 Jun 08
I believe i have at one point or two. I blame it to lack of understanding and youthful pranks, making someone the butt of jokes. I have also regretted doing it. I once read in a book that people made fun of the less fortunate because it made them feel superior. I don't know if this is true in most cases. But sometimes i see people, especially the young ones, makes fun of the handiccaped so i'm thinking it may be holding a grain of truth somehow.
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
7 Jun 08
Well I can assure you that this was not my reasoning. I am the less fortunate. I know that there are those worse off than me, but I would never make fun of a person to make myself feel superior. That is not what I am about.
I believe that mine was more from the frustration of having to live with people and eat at the same table of people who do not bathe themselves. I think that people should be required to bathe if they are going to be around others. Like this one guy here only bathes when he is going out with his mother.
@lauri_90 (25)
• Ireland
6 Jun 08
ahh it's awful!!!! it's not making fun at people a such, I would say it's making assumptions!!!! That's what I do all the time. I look at people and I make assumptions very very quick!!! One day at work, I saw this colleague and she was after putting some weight, so I congratulate her thinking that she was pregnant, as she was 2 years married and thought that was the obvious thing.... How wrong was I, it's so embarrasing to make such assumptions and then open your big mouth!!!
