I've spent a vast majority of this morning upset and frustrated. Maybe people don't realize, maybe they don't care, maybe they don't understand. Recently, a local high school senior committed suicide. (Read the article here.) There have been several students who've said he was bullied, there have been a few who've been adamant that bullying had nothing to do with it. The school district seems to think it's okay to deny any responsibility and the local police force is acting similarly. Does it take having it happen to someone YOU LOVE for you to care? How far does it have to go?
So who do they blame, then? Is it just that this teen never asked for help? Was his supposed "troubled" past not him calling out for someone to notice? WHO do they think is responsible? If they are shucking responsibility, do they just blame the person who committed the act? (He took responsibility, by the way, for taking his own life and apologized to the person who found him. How can you not be angry????)
Do they not realize that just saying "We need an anti-bullying policy" does NOTHING to change the problem? My heart is breaking over this. A high schooler from the same school posted a video on youtube, which I will post in here. I want to applaud her for having the GUTS to speak out and stand up. School these days is a scary place, I know, I coach both high schoolers and middle schoolers. These kids are terrified to say ANYTHING because of the repercussions of their peers. They need support, they need strength.
On the comments to this video, a teacher posted that "...SUICIDE is a PERMANENT solution to a VERY TEMPORARY problem! IT GETS BETTER!!" What an amazing quote.
My heart goes out to the community, the family, the students. I'm going to get involved. Life is too short, and it doesn't need to end so early. I'm not sure how far this will go, but stay tuned. I know some kids who are willing to take a stand against bullying.
Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow,
Kacey
I was touched by your sincere concern and your intelligent piece about such a tragedy. How can we continue to think that any material aspect of our lives out ranks our relationships with each other, most specifically our children? As I said in my book summary: Family is not our greatest success story. That's where it all begins. Bless you for your active interest in a real solution at least to this one completely unnecessary problem - bullying.
ReplyDeleteI've nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Take a look at my blog http://chrismawbey.blogspot.com for more details.
ReplyDeleteCorporate America, schools included, seems to have the misguided notion that accepting responsibility is legal suicide. We can't expect a kid in trouble to reach out when he's already overwhelmed. All of us have to step up our game.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff. Let's just say I have an interesting take on what should actually be done about this, and it's not precisely a pacifist view. http://thinkingskull.com/2011/07/31/anti-bullying-campaigns-are-useless/
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