Tre Booker and his date, Madison, were dressed to the nines and thrilled to be going to prom together. They posed for photos before heading on to the dance of a lifetime.
Like many teenagers would, they posted some of those photos to social media. This was nothing new. The couple has been together for about a year, and Booker admits that he can go a little overboard when he posts photos of Madison.
Only this time a troll came out and decided to be nasty for no reason at all. In response to Tre and Madison’s beautiful photos, someone wrote, “Wow he loves you even tho you’re fat 🙁
Unsurprisingly, the person posted under a pseudonym. As is so often the case when someone says something mean for no apparent reason, they didn’t have the guts to do so under their actual name.
Now, usually, when someone fires a shot in a situation like this, tempers erupt. The person who was attacked online hits back twice as hard as the original insult.
In this case, the two teenagers displayed an amazing amount of poise and calmness. Madison simply said, “Don’t see how people can be rude to people they don’t even know.” Posting such a measured response must have taken a tremendous amount of restraint after being insulted in such a public way.
So, of course, the boyfriend dialed in the nuclear launch codes, right? Nope. Tre didn’t even address the person who insulted his girlfriend. He simply told his girlfriend that she was not fat and that God made her just for him.
Tre’s philosophy can be summed up by another tweet he posted in response to the nasty comment. He said, “Never retaliate to ignorance…just replace it with forgiveness. That’s why I don’t argue with people. I’m better than that.”
His positivity and refusal to get sucked into a fight delighted the Twitterverse. People who didn’t personally know the two were congratulating and admiring them.
His friends and other followers were retweeting some of Tre’s best tweets. One of his most widely praised comments to Madison was, “A lot of people call me soft because how much I post about you…It doesn’t bother me…just want everyone to know how much I love you.”
The whole story has since gone viral as people applauded decency and civility winning out over anonymous trash talking. The best part of the exchange is that the person who made the insulting comment has completely been ignored. Instead of forming a witch hunt against the rude commenter, people have decided to be like Tre and focus on the positive side of the story.
Maybe the person who made the comment will learn something from the way Tre and Madison treat each other. It’s not likely, but stranger things have happened.
One thing is for certain. If trolls are widely ignored while victims of needless insults are encouraged, the internet could be a lot nicer place. Judging by the overwhelming response to Madison and Tre’s story, people are ready for a change.
