Letting someone you care for break your trust can hurt you. Take it from senior Kathryn Brumm, who’s been treated badly by a close friend. She let them treat her poorly for several years before she decided to speak up. Since then, she has carefully picked her friends and treated herself with  kindness to make up for lost feelings. She often feels stupid for letting a close friend hurt her for so long before doing anything about it, but by treating herself with love she has learned that she doesn’t deserve anything less. 

“Treat others the way you want to be treated is a moral I have stood by for most of my life,” Brumm said. 

Kathryn’s motto in life is to treat others the way you want to be treated. She has practiced this moral by trying to always show positivity and kindness. One of her favorite ways to show her kindness is by giving people compliments. It takes 2 seconds out of her day to make another person smile. It may not seem like something big, but it makes an impact on others and it is simple things like compliments that people remember. 

“We read in all these children’s books about all these morals and treat others the way you want to be treated, but I don’t think anyone really learns it until you’re there. Throughout my whole life, I’ve had these adult figures telling me to treat others how you want to be treated, but it never really hits you until it happens to you,” Brumm said. 

When Kathryn sees other people exercise kindness, she notices that it is really a moral boost for others around her. Even though it’s hard to be kind to people who are not necessarily kind, seeing people be kind no matter what differences they have is very inspiring to her. 

Everyone has a moral that they live by. Kathryn has shown how treating people with kindness like how you would want to be treated is very important to be truly happy.