The place a bully can't go...

Part of middle school is preparing for all of the changes that happen to the body during the normal process of puberty.  There is absolutely no way for any one person to predict exactly how another person's body is going to respond to the hormonal surge. (If I had that answer, I would be a millionaire, and be typing this blog from some Bahaman Hide-away instead of a hotel waiting for training to start!)  One thing that you can be sure of, is that middle school will bring on the ridicule from your friends and not-so-friendly friends as your body does begin to change.  Acne, sweat, clumsiness, facial hair, and breasts are just a few of the joys that come along with the middle school mayhem.  However, the absences of these things can be just as traumatic as their overwhelming presence.  A boy that is too short or too tall and the girl that is too developed or never develops as all can get just as much heckling as the most acne ridden student in the school.  Unfortunately, these forms of hazing are as old as the times.  Until recently, they were considered a right of passage, or something that everyone had to endure in the maturation process. 

The technology era has taken bullying to a new level.  Now, there is no where to escape from their ridicule.  While bullying used to be just in the school yard, it is now in our homes and on our phones.  Students that experience cyberbullying are surrounded by their bullies everywhere they go.  The message is no longer just heard at school, it is spread like wildfire, virally within minutes.  What used to be able to be contained by classroom walls, is now spinning out of control before anyone knows what is happening.  Students are losing their lives in a desperate measure to outrun the bully.   This is the only place that they can feel safe from the bully....in death.  This is the only place where there will be no more pain, no more rumors, no more laughing, and no more exclusion.  This is the place to be free.  This video is only a few of the students who have chosen this path to escape from their bully...

 

It is time for everyone to stand up against bullying.  It is not a one person job; it is an every person job.  Statistically speaking, someone reading this blog will either have a student or know a teacher who has a student who commits suicide this school year due to bullying of some kind.  Will it be one of your students? It will take all of the faculty, all of the students, and all of the community to admit this problem, and address this problem.  Parents will have to recognize the bullying behavior in their own children and stop it.  Teachers will have to believe in students who report bullying behaviors even when they are small.  Students will have to support victims and rise up against bullies.  Give power to the victim or target.  These small steps will be in the right direction.  This is a problem that needs to be acknowledged; this is a problem that needs to be addressed everyday at every school. 

 

Thank you to Joey Thomas for the video.  The song is Wanda's Song by the Readings.  Video can be found on Youtube.