I was going to write this blog about smokers, but that'll have to wait until next time. I need to focus on another topic while it's fresh in my mind, and everyone elses. I want to talk about the nightmare that some teenagers have to endure every day of their lives.
Amanda Todd, a fifteen year old girl from Coquitlam, recently killed herself because she could no longer deal with the daily torture she endured from classmates at school. Think about that for a second. How bad would it have to be, to decide killing yourself, is a better option than dealing with another day? I am so upset and saddened that kids are resorting to suicide due to actions of their classmates. I wish I could just talk to these kids for a minute before they end their life, and explain that high school is a blip on the radar of life, and nothing outside of high school is even remotely like high school. The nightmare ends at graduation.
I'm not sure as to the solution to stop bullying. Normally, I'd suggest cracking some heads, and slapping some parents (the parents of the bullies). But this might not solve anything. I am ashamed and embarrassed to say this, but in high school, I'm sure some people would have said that I was a bully. Maybe not the worst of the worst, but I know I did things to other kids that were cruel and uncalled for. Looking back, I regret my actions deeply, and if I ever run into any of the people I tormented, I've promised myself, I will humbly apologize and explain my actions were unacceptable. Unfortunately, the damage is done, and those kids can't erase those shitty days from their memory, and can't undo the fact that they have lived their life with unjustified, low self esteem.
You know how parents always tell their kids, "you're not invincible". I've talked to many people my age and we all agree, we never thought we were invincible. The problem was, we never thought of consequences. I guess the end result is the same, but the cause is very different. The things I did when I was younger scare me. I'm sure my mom loves to read this. The things I did as a teenager should have got me killed, or at least maimed. Not that I was half as wild as some kids I grew up with, but looking back at the way I drove, the way I worked with dangerous equipment, the dumb ideas I had for stunts etc. I was nuts. The thing is, I'm the same person I was then. I'm actually a very cautious person, so why was I so reckless? It's like young children that like to play in the mud, and get dirty. At some point we don't like getting dirty. We like to keep our clothes clean, and care what we look like. Why at some point were those things not important to us? Just like as teenagers, some of us didn't think of consequence. Not sure why, but we didn't, and that's why kids bully other kids. I know it's a bullshit cop out, but it's true. When I would make a mean comment, or throw a banana peel at another kid, it was to get a laugh out of the other kids, and maybe by making other people laugh, I'd be a bit cooler, or more accepted. You see a group of people doing something as a teenager and if you do what they do, you fit in, and that seems to be what is important at that age. Not once did I feel bad for the person that was getting picked on. I'm not a bad person, and now I feel terrible, but back then, it's not that I didn't feel bad, it's that I didn't think to feel bad. I never once thought of the aftermath. I didn't think about how that kid would feel, or how it felt to not be accepted. I didn't think that that kids life might be agony, and they might hate every morning, and couldn't wait for the bell at the end of the day, so they could escape the torture and reticule.
Don't get me wrong, some people are just assholes. They were in high school and will be forever. The nice thing is, those people go nowhere in life. Their shit isn't tolerated outside of high school. They may still be convinced they are in the "it" crowd, but the "it" crowd gets pretty small after high school, and most of them end up working at Footlocker or tanning salons for the rest of their lives.
A small action to gain a bit respect from your peers can be devastating on the receiving end. I don't know how to get that into someones head that hasn't yet learned to think about anyone but themselves and doesn't understand consequence.
I think Pink does an amazing job of trying to help kids through the hell that is high school. She has a lot of songs about what it is to be the loser at school. It sounds like she had a rough time in high school. Let her be a shining beacon of reality. She went for the butt end of the jokes to super stardom. I hope people listen to her, and I'm sure they do, and maybe Pink has already saved some lives and helped people through hell.
I don't know if we will ever be able to get rid of bullying, but I wish we could get the message out to the kids that are living a nightmare, that it ends, it's bad, but it ends. I hope we find a way to help these kids, or protect them, or stop the bullying, because I can't handle anymore tragic stories of kids, that should be having the time of their life, so depressed, they can't go on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocDlOD1Hw9k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjVNlG5cZyQ
