Bullying has been a growing problem in schools, especially in past years. While some consider hazing and the abuse that some children take in school to be a typical part of the adolescent experience, rising suicide rates and violence in school has led officials to start taking a hard, zero-tolerance stance on bullying. If you were picked in school as a kid, or maybe it continued into your college and adult years, World Day Of Bullying Prevention is bringing attention to your plight, and the plight of others who experienced this incredibly difficult, and dangerous, part of many children’s lives.
Bullying has existed probably as long as humans have, but in 2007 two young men by the names of David Shepherd and Travis Price decided that they’d simply had enough. On the first day of school, a day like any other as you may imagine, a student by the name of Jadrien Cota had made a vital error for a young boy starting off a school year. This mistake?
He’d worn a pink shirt. It took almost no time at all for a group of bullies to notice the color of his shirt, and they immediately started giving him a hard time about it. Observing this, David and Travis decided to take a stand. They went home and purchased 50 pink shirts and handed them out at school the next day, encouraging everyone to take a stand against bullying.
It didn’t take long for this practice to catch on and start to spread around the world, in 2008 Gordon Campbell, the Premier of British Columbia, proclaimed a provincial anti-bullying day. It continued to spread until 2012, when the United Nations took this celebration and pushed it one step further, turning it into an Anti-Bullying campaign on a global scale.
Taking a stand against bullying is, in part, an act of vigilance that starts at home. Think about the behaviors you engage in and the light-hearted teasing you do with your co-workers, classmates, and friends. Is it possible that what you see as harmless is in fact being perceived as a damaging and malicious act?
Do you observe bullying going on around you? Stand up and tell the offender to stop and be a champion for the person being bullied. Spread information about what can happen as a result of bullying and be sure to really listen to your kids and friends if they’re complaining about how they’re treated in school. Bullying is a serious problem, and World Day of Bullying Prevention is our opportunity to take a stand against it and stomp it out.