Black ink soaking through a white cloth
Staining
It can be washed and washed
Difficult to remove
A shadow will remain
So what’s the use?
Throw it away
But what if it was a girl
Or a boy
Man or a woman
Their psyche soiled
treated like toys
of the algorithm
One negative comment
Outweighs a million kindnesses
Why is negative so heavy
And positive so light
That one drags us down
And no matter how many strings are tied
We fail to fly upwards
I’m pretty right
Thanks
But what about others
I press small hearts
And sprinkle kindness wherever I roam
Because one never knows
If another human
Needs that little bit of counterweight
*I’ve spent more time on Instagram and Threads then I probably ever have in the last couple of months. I’m obsessed with photography and there are so many great photographers there.
I always praise warmly, sincerely, enthusiastically really because I have that Labrador energy about me. I never take much notice or read the other comments but the other day I was struck still by the comment just below mine.
I was on threads – and a young woman had caught my eye, she had extraordinary poise. A dancer, she was on the tips of her bare feet while balancing on a bosu ball. She lifted one leg as the bosu wobbled, she remained perfectly balanced, eyes closed and raised that leg above her head.
It was an incredible feat, I was in awe. And said so in my comments
Which is when I saw this truly mean comment that was utterly pointless and wrong below mine.
This man was saying her knees were ugly and the feat was “nothing much”.
It sounded like something a damaged kindergarten child might yell
It was horrid
But I realised that there are many mentally ill and damaged people on the internet
Just as there are in the world
But on the internet they feel empowered to rage without boundaries
Meanness is insanity
Normal people don’t hurt other people in that fashion
And you would hope that anyone would understand that simple fact, and not take the comment to heart
But people do
They do take it to heart
And there is a study that shows that it takes masses of positive comments to outweigh a single negative one. Particularly if that young girl was already self conscious about her knees or body image.
I can’t stop all that. We can’t control the trolls of the internet, or the ones in real life.
But I do try to be a counterweight of positivity everywhere, even if it isn’t required, because that nice comment today might outweigh some crappy one tomorrow. And if not, well, nobody ever suffered from hearing their work is great, as long as the comment is sincere.
Love
Kate X
Header photo some wild turnip in the foreground – it’s an absolutely noxious pest but I happen to love it, as long as it’s not in my paddock. Shipping containers in the background. A bit of colour in amongst my monochromatic images of late. When I do shoot colour it seems so ridiculously saturated now, it’s almost too dramatic. But I loved these, they look like child’s toys all stacked in a higgle piggle row.
They are also containers, capable of containing anything, they are almost indestructible – light or dark – I yawn and stretch and choose my contents each day.
But this isn’t real, no matter how persuasive it may appear, digital dust, a smear on a windscreen contains more reality than what we do here.
And yet, some element of self is left to flounder through the maze.
