There are two unrelated stories out last week that struck a common theme with me. It has to do with respect for others, civility and accepting people for who they are.
Who doesn't want to be part of the "in crowd"? Who doesn't want to be liked? ...or at the least, be accepted? What's the point of humiliating a member of your team, work unit or family? Power. We talk about a misuse of power, but when we see it; we're apt to dismiss it. It's just a joke. It was nothing. You need a thicker skin than that.
Sometimes the jokes wear thin and are no longer funny. Maybe it is something. Something cruel that should stop. Maybe after months flow onto more than a year, there no more skin left for protection.
At what point do we decide a "joke" crosses over the line to bullying?
The two stories are about the Miami Dolphins Right Tackle, Jonathan Martin (who walked out of the Dolphins training facility last week after what most would think was a silly prank) and a totally unrelated letter to Dear Prudence posted on Slate where a "handsome intern" pretended to flirt with an overweight divorced women 20 years his senior as a joke to the point where she became the butt of the joke in the office.
