My post tonight comes after reading yet another horrific story of a teen suicide. Jamie Hubley killed himself this past Friday; he was a 15-year old gay male who ended his life after a long battle with depression. When the article came up in my AOL news feed, I couldn’t help but think, how many young people have to die as a result of bullying/non-acceptance before someone really intervenes, and realizes what a catastrophic "epidemic" this issue has become. Not only did I happen to read this article today, but over the weekend I got to watch the second part of Anderson Cooper's bullying special. I cried through most of the episode. There were children of varied ages on the show sharing their stories of how they've been bullied in school. One little boys story particularly stuck with me. Kyle, a boy of no more than maybe 10 or 11 years old, shared his story of being bullied in a bathroom at his school. What he described next shocked me to the core. Kyle walked into the bathroom, where there was already a group of boys convening, he entered one of the stalls and within a matter of seconds he felt something dripping on his head. When Kyle looked up, he saw one of the boys urinating on him. I had to pause my DVR at this point because i felt sick to my stomach. How could another human being conduct this sort of behavior on another human being? Where did that boy learn that what he did to Kyle was acceptable? The strength that Kyle showed sharing his story on national television far surpasses the strength of any grown man I've ever met. Watching the bullying special and than reading the article on Jamie really made an impact on me, and stirred the activism pot within me so to speak. People are always saying, "I don’t know why he/she did it? Why didn’t they just get help? Could it have really been that bad?" My answer to those people is yes, it IS that bad. Imagine another child urinating on your child, for no other reason than the fact they felt like it; imagine your child being called insulting words day after day; imagine if your child had no where to turn for help. Bullying IS that deadly; my question is, when is someone going to step in and help these unheard cries to be saved?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urQmIzv_3E
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/jamie-hubley-commits-suicide_n_1015646.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C104998
Agreed!! You can be that teacher, Danielle! You can be that person! We all have to be. I cannot tell you how many times I intervened, even when people said "you cannot help everyone." If you have the attitude that you can, then it's amazing how many people you actually can help. I have every confidence that you are going to be one of those "everyday heros" that we hear about on the news.
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