A small yet powerful story emerging from Canada this week. A story worth celebrating.
Bless these school students for saying NO to bullying and doing what they did in a classy and supportive manner. Young activists to be proud of.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/18/pink-tshirts-students.html
Our children are not born bullies, we create them. What role does marketing and media play in either maintaining isms or defying them and championing individuality?
5 comments:
Comment observed online re this story:
"Lovely.
Reminds me of the high school where a student was being laughed at and harassed after a round of chemotherapy.
Classmates by the hundred, male and female, shaved their heads in a show of solidarity and support.
Kids can be wonderful and idealistic."
Not just students, sometimes teachers and those in positions of power are just as bullying.
My young son was trained in peer mediation when he was 9 and is much better skilled at dealing with difficult situations than many adults I know.
Hello Susan,
I think this is a very important issue that you've highlighted.
I was reading today about the 7th sense our morality or feeling of conscience and remorse, that if we can experience these emotions truly then that helps us to feel true empathy and connection to our fellow human beings.
One of the hardest things often is to move against the crowd, to speak when we may fear if we do so that we may be ostracised or face retribution.
If children can learn to this this early on then hopefully as adults we can learn to revisit what it means to truly feel sorry and better still to avoid picking on those less powerful than ourselves.
anon. , you raise interesting points.
I am certainly aware that in criminal behaviour forensics that it is the suspension of morality link with those around them that can create abusers and murderers et al.
I think as parents we play the pivotal role in creating beings who have humility - and who thus 'listen'- and who learn not to assume one's own ego and belief systems are the centre-stone of the world. I believe there's a difference in having self confidence and making it all about 'me' and teaching young adults that it's actually ok not to consider those around them. I think one of the real social issues that education needs to grasp is teaching community values and interactions; re-create the drive and goal sets and safety, of the village.
Responding with lack of creativity to issues of individual difference and individual willingness to contribute, can come in various forms. Closed shop issues exist in various ways in business society and yet you do see examples here and there of individuals who really have it all and live a creative life of joy.
Personally I like to feel the mantle of having a moral conscience. It's not always the most time efficient stance, nor the easiest on self, however I'd rather have it than not.
By the way, I don't mind saying that I stand opposed to bullying and fear creation.
Post a Comment