Dear Faceless Troll,
You said I’m not fit to be a mother. Those were hard words to read typed out in that exact order and yes, those words stuck with me. Not because I think your opinion matters nor because I think some nondescript account on the internet is the last word in perfect motherhood. They don’t stick with me because I believe you. They are not hard to read because I think they might be true. I know that is just your way of lashing out a me, an absolute stranger with zero interaction beyond this incident, in the only way you know how – to inflict pain.
Those words are now impressed on my heart because they serve as a harsh reminder that this is the world we live in. A world where anybody protected by the anonymity of their screen name, and behind the safety of their keyboard can tell anybody anything without any sort of consequence. A world where people like you are provided a platform on which to be the worst versions of yourself. It’s a harsh reminder that my son is going to grow up in a world where the value of his mother is judged not by how happy, healthy, cared for, and loved he is, but by the type of picture she chooses to post. It’s a harsh realization that a simple photo of my child innocently playing outdoors, experiencing something he loves, with me close by for protection, could have me deemed as unfit to be his mother. Me. The one God gave him to. The one praying every day that I can come to deserve this beautiful miracle that was placed in my care.
I just want to remind you, dear Faceless Troll, that behind every screen name, behind every photo, behind every account is a human being. One with feelings and a family, who owns a home and goes to work and brushes her teeth just like you. Every word that you throw out devoid of consequence, strikes a real person in the heart.
Just stop for a moment and ask yourself, would you have said those things to your own mother or to your sister?
Would you like those words said about your best friend or maybe even about you?
Would you have said those words to a complete stranger at the Target self-check-out if you had to look her in the eyes? Could you have said that if you had to actually see the hurt you might have caused?
It’s all too easy to write people off as “strangers on the Internet” because to so many of us, they aren’t real people. They are just accounts and screen-names and pretty pictures. Faceless. But those strangers are friends and loved ones to someone else. They are real mothers to real little boys. Those strangers are real people and, oh, how I hope, dear Faceless Troll that you never speak those words to someone who believes you. I am grateful that your words reached me and not someone more impressionable.
Sincerely,
Fit To Be His Mother.
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