The Skittle Philosophy

The Skittle Philosophy. #riseabove

The Skittles Philosophy.

'So, how many burgers did you have to eat to get that fat?'

The message was staring back at me and I could see the black of the words blurring into the white background through my tears. Much like everyone else at my school, I'd signed up to the anonymous question apps and had enjoyed asking harmless questions. The anonymous query to a guy in my class about who he fancied was my first and only post. What I didn't expect was the tirade of abuse that came through.

'Have you considered showering? Cos, ew.'

'Do you reckon your lack of boobs is the reason for your lack of boyfriend? I do.'

All the questions had remained unanswered, but they hadn't gone unnoticed. The words were always on my mind, making me wonder who was saying those hateful things, and if there was any truth to it. I'd undergone similar issues at school, but I wasn't used to the problems following me home.

"Why are you crying?" I looked up at the sound of Max's voice. He was in his spider man pyjamas, peering around my bedroom door. His mousey hair was messy and his wide blue eyes were staring at me worriedly.

"I'm not," I assured, wiping my cheeks with my sleeve.

"Yeah, you are," he said as let himself into my bedroom. I couldn't help but smile as he tried to navigate his little legs up the ladder of my cabin bed. When he appeared at the top, he gave me a toothy grin.

"If you stop crying, I'll give you a skittle," he bargained and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Deal." He offered me a tiny fist bump before handing over the promised sweet. He'd learned about fist bumps at school and had been dishing them out continually ever since.

"Why are you sad?" he asked. I sighed, meeting his curious gaze.

"A couple of people were being mean, that's all. I'm okay," I said, dismissing the matter. Max frowned.

"I don't like people that are mean," he replied, crossing his arms.

"Me neither, buddy. I'm okay though," I said.

"Do you know what I do when boys are mean?" he asked, a grin making its way across his chubby cheeks. I shook my head with a smile, his presence already making me feel better.

"I give them skittles. You can't be mean to people who have skittles."

I admired the kindness and the childish simplicity in him. I decided, when sitting in my bedroom with my little brother and his candy-orientated philosophy lessons (and he had a lot of them), that I wasn't going to delete the question app after all. My brother offered people skittles, I was going to combat the negativity with positivity. Instead of leaving questions for my crush, I began to leave anonymous compliments on people's pages. If one of my messages could make someone smile as much as my brother did that night, it would be worth it.

A.N: This is my example entry for the #riseabove competition currently running on wattpad! The prize, *drumroll* is a brand new essential phone!

The whole point of this exciting, and extremely important, campaign is one that is very close to me personally. Both bullying and cyberbulling are, sadly, prominant in our society today and spreading the kindness is one way to #riseabove the negativity and get through the tough times. 

Head over to the @TELUS wattpad page for the rules and to view other example entries. 

If you link your own entries below, I'd love to read them!

Until next time, wattpadians. 

[Disclosure notice: I have been commissioned by TELUS marketing and wattpad to complete this entry to the #riseabove campaign competition.]