a comment on bullying

first of all, i would like you to all take a moment & visit my friend steph's blog post about a recent teen suicide brought about by bullying.  PLEASE, if you know of a child who is being harassed, if you are being harassed by someone yourself, take whatever steps necessary to stand up for that child, or for yourself.  there ARE ppl who will support you.  find them, let them support you, and then STAND UP and keep STANDING UP.  i don't mean fighting the bully - altho i sometimes wish for the days when you could haul off & hit someone back if they started a fight w/ you, knowing that ppl would take the side of RIGHT over political correctness.  but what i mean by standing up is to be vocal about what's going on.  to your friends, family, teachers, congressmen, clerk at the grocery store, co-workers, boss, boss's boss, EVERYONE.  the only shame in harassment belongs to the one doing the harassing.  shame, embarrassment, whatever you want to call it, that is where the bully's power lies.  bullying is like blackmail.  the person doing the bullying is counting on their victim's not speaking out.  speak out!!  

now, the other side of that is that we, as a society, need to LISTEN when ppl DO speak out!  in the case mentioned in steph's blog, this girl, amanda, spoke out.  she CRIED out for help.  no one stopped her harassers.  

we need to stand up to ppl who use bullying tactics.  we, meaning society.  meaning stop setting up funds & whatnot for kids who commit suicide & start setting up REAL SOLUTIONS to stop the bullies before it gets that far.  kids who are taught to disregard another's life grow up to be adults who disregard another's life.  unless they are taught compassion, unless they are shown the real consequences of their actions... we need to teach our children that helping ppl is not weak, it is desired.  being kind is not something to be laughed at, but aspired to.  

oye.

anyway, that's my five minute spot on the subject.  i will be doing my best to teach my own children (well, nieces & nephews, you know what i mean!) those morals and ethics and logic.  i will be doing my best to be an example of good things, of love.  i will be doing my best to be that example not ONLY to the kids, but to my co-workers and friends and family as well.

i hope you will join me.