10/27/2022
Please don't keep your silence now and decide to share later. This page was created as a place to share your experiences to bring awareness and hopefully rational thoughts on a real solution. If we stand together, no one will be alone...
Our whole lives we are told: "life isn't fair", pain builds character, bullies are everywhere, it takes more than just one person to make big change, just ignore them and they will quit/ things will get better, if you have a problem talk to the person who is in charge, if someone doesn't like you they are just jealous or want your attention... We've also been told that chocolate is terrible for your health only to be told later that actually a little bit of a certain kind of chocolate is good for ya. How many additional things popped into your head that the info about it was thought of as one way but now something different is believed?
I can actually hear myself stating all the above for one reason or another to assist in getting my point across at one time. I also said those things because I felt they were true. Everyday something reminds us that life is not fair. Many problems appear bigger than we are. Bullies truly are everywhere. Pain does build character and helps us define happiness or a baseline for being "okay" at the least. I could go on...
I draw your attention to the above because our youth have been experiencing increasing amounts of bullying at school and are resulting to "worse offences" being seen as the only solution. Fighting and trying to bully the bully are the solutions
that are being chosen the most.
I am being mindful of my words because I do not want to be misunderstood. I truly believe that everything in life helps build our character. Having said that, I feel it is unacceptable to allow so many kids to have only 3 choices when choosing what kind of character they develop: bully, victim, silent audience member.
Do you know of a kid that has been bullied and thought the only way to make it stop was to fight the bully? Or do you know the kids that were too afraid to fight so they do nothing but grow the character of a voiceless victim? What if they choose a weapon because they don't know how to fight or want to get punched back?
Last thought questions that I hope you consider, for now: Do you realize that we are constantly saying how not fully developed kids are when talking about their thinking processes/ critical thinking skills, yet we tell them to just ignore the extremely hurtful things that are being repeatedly said to them? We say turn the other cheek or "they just want attention so if you don't give it then they will lose interest and move on." Answers that were once true or accepted as truth are supposed to be considered as false/old way of thinking once they are proven different. There are many studies that show the wide array of side effects from bullying.... Our kids aren't as developed as adults and even adults fall victim to bullying and react in a negative way...
