As I watch the movie Bully for the second time I cannot stop shaking my head at the ignorance shown by so many of the schools that these victims are attending. From sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me to telling a student that they are just as bad as their bully because they refuse to accept an apology for death threats it is clear that our educators are blind to the epidemic that is raging through our school system. Children as young as 8 are taking their own lives because they can no longer deal with torment they face every single day. Eight year olds shouldn’t be considering or even understand the concept of suicide yet. The only things they should be focused on is what they’re going to have for dinner or what game they’re going to play with their friend at recess. One of the girls documented for this documentary was so fed up with the bullying she faced on the school bus that she took her mother’s gun and threatened her tormenters. It wasn’t that she had an intention of murdering anyone; it was that she could not think of any other solution to get her tormenters to stop the bullying. If the fact that a young girl saw no other option to end the bullying she was facing than to pull a gun on her peers is not a sign that our school system is failing in protecting our children from bullying than I don’t know what is. One of the police officers that dealt with the case said how he saw no reason, unless she was being physically harmed, to justify threatening her peers with a gun. I couldn’t help but shake my head at the ignorance that police officer showed in that moment. For those of you who read this I am sure have either been a victim of bullying, been a friend of a victim, have a child who is a victim or perhaps even have been the bully yourself at one point in your life. For myself personally, I was a victim throughout the majority of my primary schooling. I was made fun of for my freckles, for the way I wore my pants, for the fact that I enjoyed reading at recess over playing, and for many more reasons. The bullying I experienced wasn’t contained to just the walls of my school, it was outside at recess and on my way home on the bus. Until you experience bullying first hand I feel that you have no right to say how a person should be feeling or that one’s choice of how they handle the bullying is not justified because they weren’t physically abused. The saying “sticks and stone can break my bones, but words can never hurt me” is the farthest thing from the truth. Hit me with sticks and throw stones at me, leave cuts, bruises and broken bones that will heal in a few days or weeks. But the wounds that never heal are the ones beneath the skin. Words cut deeper than the sharpest of knives and they leave scars that never heal. It is time that our children are able to feel safe in their schools. It is time our educators stop saying “we’ll do something” and they actually start doing something. If bartenders are responsible for the actions of the people they serve, even after they leave the bar, than shouldn’t the bullies be responsible for the children’s actions to harm themselves or take their own lives?
The campaign “We Don’t Do That Here” was founded in Barrie, Ontario. Take the “We Don’t Do That Here” pledge and agree that for 21 days (hopefully longer) you will:
Talk/Social Media POSITIVE about yourself
Talk/Social Media POSITIVE about others
ENCOURAGE others daily
GENTLY remind others who are speaking/social media-ing negative that WE DON’T DO THAT HERE
RESPECT others – no matter who they are
NOT gossiping (includes not listening to it)
If you see a negative post on social media than post “We Don’t Do That Here” in the comments to show people that bullying is not tolerated
Meghan 