“Sticking Up for a Friend,” Ensign, October 2015, 73
Sticking Up for a Friend
Photo illustration by Robert Casey
We watched a Mormon Messages video in family home evening about cyberbullying. A month or so later, one of my friends (I’ll call her Molly) posted a video on a social networking site being nasty to another one of my friends (I’ll call her Sarah). I was surprised she did it, as they used to be best friends, and Molly would never have said such things to Sarah’s face. Another girl had “liked” it. I wasn’t sure if I should say something, because I don’t like confrontations. My mum asked how I’d feel if the video was about me and none of my friends said anything.
I decided to leave a comment that nicely let Molly know I didn’t like what she had posted. I also reported the video as inappropriate because it was bullying.
The next day I checked the site. The video had been taken down, but Molly had now posted it directly to us. This time nobody “liked” it, and two other people wrote comments similar to mine, sticking up for Sarah. Molly then blocked me and another girl but got rid of the video.
I was upset that Molly reacted like that, but I felt pleased I’d been a good influence. And I was pleased that others had stood by our friend too. I hope Molly has learned that good friends don’t do mean things like that and that we’ll say something if they do. I also hope Molly knows we would stick up for her too.