A high school student’s response to online bullying is winning praise from friends and family, who are proud of her bravery in the face of a mean-spirited post.Lynelle Cantwell was in math class Monday in Holy Trinity High in Torbay when she learned she and other students had been ranked in an anonymous online “straw poll” called “Ugliest girls at hth,” which was posted on the social media site ask.fm.
The site allows people to make anonymous posts and comments.
“It outraged me … all of these girls are hurt because of this one person who has no heart or sympathy for anything,” she told CBC News on Wednesday.
“I wanted to be the bigger person, and instead of fighting fire with fire, I decided to fight it a different way and make something that was really negative into something really positive.”
After thinking about the hurtful poll for the rest of the day, Cantwell decided to respond on Facebook Tuesday with her own message.
Cantwell said she’s been bombarded with texts, calls and messages ever since the post, and one person even went so far as to send her flowers.
“I’m getting so many messages I can’t answer all of them,” she said.
“Everyone is coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, your Facebook status, it’s so beautifully written and doing such a good job and I’m so proud of you,'” she said.
“Everything is just so positive.”