Akey to education for our youth is a safe environment in which to learn.
While there have always been school bullies that have impeded that opportunity for some, there are indications things are becoming more dire.
“Bullying is different than it used to be,” said Corey O’Soup, Saskatchewan’s new Advocate for Children and Youth told students at Dr. Brass School recently. He noted when he was a kid he could find safety at home, but today bullying can follow a youngster home as it takes place through various social media.
“You can’t get rid of it. It’s worse than when I was a kid,” he said.
While O’Soup said he was pushed into lockers and had his running shoes taken, the stories today suggest there's rougher bullying taking place.
“Bullying is getting way more violent and aggressive than it used to be,” he said.
It was a theme picked up on by Saskatchewan Roughrider Spencer Moore when he spoke in Yorkton last week as part of Pink Day.
Moore said there are different types of bullying youth can face, including physical, verbal, cyber and social, and it’s important youth know what each is. When you know what bullying is happening, you can help those facing it deal with it by getting help.
Moore said he tries to keep his message simple (check out "Encouraging respect among students").
“I go to schools all across Saskatchewan,” he told students, adding he has a very simple message: “Be kind to one another.”
Moore said that during the presentations he and other Roughriders make through the Red Cross, they look to build “positive happy relationships” and to help inspire youth not to bully one another.
Moore said “we’re all different” and we must respect those differences. “I think that it’s awesome we’re all different … I think life would be very boring if everybody was the same.
“It’s OK to be different.”
Once you accept differences you “respect others for being who they are,” offered Moore. “You don’t have to be best friends with everybody but you should respect everybody.”
And that is the crucial message being shared through what is now an international movement that is Pink Day.
In 2007, a Grade 9 student in Cambridge, N.S. was bullied by classmates for wearing a pink shirt to school. Taking notice, two Grade 12 students named Travis Price and David Shepherd rallied their friends to send a message to the bullies. The next day the halls were filled with students in pink t-shirts. This was the beginning of Pink Day.
Their actions sparked a world-wide movement shedding light on the issues surrounding bullying and inspiring others to ‘Be Someone’s Hero’ by speaking up when they see bullying happening.
Since then, over 233,000 people in Saskatchewan have participated in Red Cross Pink Day celebrations.
It is a message that is clearly one which needs to be reinforced so that students can rise above bullying allowing them to become whatever they dream to be.
