Ashton Irwin Trending on Twitter for Both Love and Hate

Young Singer Ashton Irwin has been trending on Twitter with messages of both love and hate. The message of love was # keepsmilingashtonweloveyou, the other, a message of hate, # keepcuttingashtonyourtrash. This young drummer of the Australian group 5 Seconds of Summer has a dark past that included cutting his wrists. He has since stopped the cutting, much to his fans relief, and wears many bracelets to hide the scars. He now draws butterflies on the scars of his fans to show them they are beautiful, and that they too can overcome this dangerous affliction. The fans are so intense, and their support is so great that they are trending on Twitter with their hash tag and outpouring of love. One fan even pulled the ' just kiss me on the cheek' routine and quickly changed it up to get a kiss on the lips from the 19-year-old heart-throb.

The hate hash tag popped up yesterday and Ashton responded with 'Be with us, or against us, don't like what we are doing, it's fine, this is the real s###, all for the fans, don't dare tell me otherwise.' This was re-tweeted 36,000 times within 24 hours under the keep smiling hash tag. The haters were quickly put in their place, as they were out numbered by 5 Seconds of Summer fans, and kept the love pouring in through their tweets to Irwin.

The band released their first single in the states on April 1st, and they also began touring in March and sold out the 10 dates scheduled for San Francisco in less than 5 minutes. Their record debuted at Number 25 on Billboard's Social 50 chart, which is basically a You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites popularity contest. It just may be these boys will be the next big thing, and Ashton Irwin's support on Twitter filled with words of love and compassion could not even be countered or brought down by the random messages of hate.

Cutting is a dangerous way that many teens and adults have taken in an effort to control their emotions, or to simply feel anything at all. Teens and adults alike have been known to try this form of redirecting their emotions that are too intense to deal with. Experts agree that it is a real issue and not one to be taken lightly. Even those in the limelight are subject to bullying, like Irwin, which this hate message certainly is. It can be a tough world to grow up in and some are not equipped to handle the intensity that comes with those growing pains. Unfortunately cutting or burning are some of the ways that people choose to cope, and it should not matter that many do not understand, and judging is what some say is just another form of bullying. Standing in support of someone who has overcome this affliction, is a message of faith, love and understanding.

Keep smiling can be inspirational to all, and through the tweets, it has certainly reached many that may have really needed that message to take control of their own lives. Those who chose to anonymously tweet hate messages to Ashton Irwin will likely not bring down his fans that have shown the power of positive reinforcement by trending on Twitter their message of love.

Opinions by Kristi Cereska@KCsBookshelf