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Cyber bullies at a high school in California that drove one Teen to leave the school.
Bullies at a school in Massachusetts who made life so intolerable for one Teen that she killed herself.
Over and over we hear these stories of intolerance, of meanness, of the power dynamic of putting someone else down so the bullies can feel bigger, or better.
We see the pattern of using someone's gender non-conformity (girls who are too masculine, or boys who are too feminine) or someone's real or perceived sexual orientation as ammunition in an onslaught designed to strengthen an unjust status quo.
Enough is enough.
So authors Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall started a facebook group, Young Adult Authors Against Bullying, to help turn the tide. In Carrie's words:
We were tired - tired of hearing about tragedies because of bullying, tired of seeing bullies on television, in schools, in the grocery stores. So often people who are bullied feel like they are worthless, alone, couldn’t possibly make it through. Even when bullying doesn’t involve an emotional element, the bully’s words echo, and worm their way into people’s hearts, eroding their self worth.
As an author who writes for kids, I wanted to find a way to use words for good, to make a tiny dent in all that bad by creating a place where people who were bullied can read about others who made it through.
Authors seemed like the perfect people to do that. And since Megan Kelley Hall and I started the group we’ve read tons of stories that are so poignant and heart-wrenching of adult authors and teens who have dealt with this.
For a lot of them, telling their stories has been incredibly hard, but also powerful because they know that they are showing others that they aren’t alone. One person said that they were ashamed that they had been bullied, that they had hidden it, but seeing how many other people out there had been bullied as well made them stronger.
And really, that's so important. Finding the power in words. In stories. Together.
In the real world, speak up if you see someone else being bullied.
And online, Join the facebook group.
And stand with Megan, and Carrie, and Me, and thousands of others... and together, we'll create a movement, an uprising, a revolution - to stop bullying.
Because enough is enough.
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing this link.
“Bullying” is a topic that is on the hearts and minds of individuals in position of responsibility whether in the workplace or our schools. With the most recent incident where a young 15 year old girl hangs herself due to what is described as “relentless bullying” and by prosecutors as statutory rape has gone well beyond the parameters of “bullying.”
It is only when we realize that this bullying behavior is “intent-driven aggressive behavior;” that there is a Continuum of Aggression, of which Bullying is an element, that we can actually prevent bullying. Through this continuum we can learn the “precursors” to bullying, and through this understand and application we can actually prevent and stop this culture of bullying. Until we learn the Continuum of Aggression we are relegated to reacting to bullying, not preventing it.
I am writing the definitive book on “preventing bullying,” and I need your help. I will illustrate how “bullying” is an element on the Continuum of Aggression and through this continuum we can foresee the precursors of bullying and therefore can prevent bullying and stop bullying behavior. However, I need as many examples of bullying as possible. I would like to read about any accounts of bullying you have experienced or observed, whether in the workplace or in education. I would particularly like to understand how you responded to this bullying and how and why it worked or didn’t work? Please go the my blog and share your account. In return, I would share excepts of the unique approach for your review and comment. My blog is located at http://blog.AggressionManagement.com
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