What Do I Do About Those Bullies

Unless you have been living in total isolation over the past week you have had to hear about another teenager committing suicide after constantly being bullied for being gay. This week, 14 year old Jamey Rodemeyer took his life after years of bullying.



This young man even posted an "It Gets Better" video back in May. It is below.



Today Jamey's family and friends gathered and laid him to rest in New York. My heart goes out to the Rodemeyer family, Jamey's friends, and anyone who has been affected by this sudden loss.

I would be lying if I said his death did not affect me. In fact, it has certainly been on my mind all week. As an educator, I take the issue of bullying any child very seriously. I am fortunate to be in a school and school system that takes a hard stance against bullying of any kind. When there is a bullying issue, we address it swiftly and appropriately. We work very hard to insure students are not bullied.

With that being said, I know someone would say that more bullying happens than of which we are aware. I am aware of that fact. However, we do everything we can possibly do to avert bullying.

On Friday, my students had their monthly guidance lesson. We are blessed to have three of the most incredible guidance counselors in our school. As part of their job, the are tasked with conducting these monthly guidance classes to all 1200+ students. This month, the students on my team had their guidance class during my science block.

The topic of this month's lesson was bullying. Our guidance counselor discussed being a bully, being a victim, and being a bystander, and an upstander. The lesson was fantastic, and the students had great discussion of a range of bullying tactics. Near the end of her lesson she discussed the use of the phrase "that's so gay." I was amazed to hear that from her given her views on homosexuality.

All throughout this lesson, my thoughts went back to Jamey and all the other lost souls over the past few years who have taken their own lives after being bullied. At the same time I was somewhat thankful that I never fell into that pit of despair for being bullied in school.

The last part of the guidance lesson was a poem written by our counselor. She loves to write poetry, and she is rather talented at it. The poem made me almost shed some tears, but I held back. I did ask her if I could share the poem with you, and she sent me a copy. It is written from the perspective of the victim, and as she read it, I pictured Jamey saying this to himself day after day...

What Do I Do About Those Bullies?

(written with permission of the author)

I wish someone would notice.

I sure wish someone would care.

But no one seems to even see me,

Yet, there's people everywhere!

I wish someone would stop

And just ask if I'm okay.

I wish someone could sense the sadness

I live with every day!

Getting bullied really hurts. 

I feel so empty inside.

It is really tough to be here.

I want to run and hide! 

I wish I knew who I could tell. 

I wish I knew what I could do.

I wish the bullies would leave me alone.

That would be my dream come true! 

On the sidebar of my blog you can find more information about the Stop Bullying: Speak Up campaign and even take the pledge to help end bullying! Together we can make a difference!