Last week, Rick Mercer posted a “Rick’s Rant” called “Make It Better Now,” regarding the recent string of suicides due to bullying.
Take a moment to watch the clip. He sends a powerful message that “it’s no longer good enough for us to tell kids who are different that it’s going to get better. We have to make it better now, that’s every single one of us. Every teacher, every student, every adult has to step up to the plate.”
I couldn’t agree more. Jamie Hubley’s sucide in Ottawa and Tyler Clementi’s suicide last year in New Jersey, and the far too many other young lives lost, are not “just” gay issues requiring stricter anti-gay bullying laws.
From my recent book, “Bullying Epidemic: Not Just Child’s Play“: “This is a much too narrow view of both the problem and the solution. This is fundamentally an issue of how we treat all human beings. By labeling this “gays only”, we make it far too easy for many people to think “Not my problem.” And the “Hang In There. It Will Get Better” approach is dead wrong. Once again, we’re telling kids that adults won’t help; they’re on their own to solve the problem. It will NOT get better unless we MAKE it better. And relying on the law to solve the problem is (1) yet another way of passing the problem off to someone else and (2) too little, too late – the damage has already been done. The only solution is prevention and early intervention – catch it early and stop it before it becomes toxic.
Let’s take a stand. Enough is enough.
