mean girls

October 10, 2011

I'm Confessing My Sins Today

It is hard to admit this, but I wasn’t always the nicest girl.

At one time in my life, I cared a lot about being popular. I cared so much that sometimes I ridiculed and teased other people. Or I stood by silently while others were teased. And I did nothing. These are the things about which I am now deeply ashamed. Sins for which I have tried to atone. Today, I’m telling it straight. It isn’t always pretty….

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After my post went up at I Survived The Mean Girls, I learned that Anderson Cooper had run a television special devoted to bullying awareness and prevention called Bullying: It Stops Here.

The special aired from Rutgers University about one year after freshman Tyler Clementi’s suicide. Clementi killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after a recording of him having a sexual encounter with another man was posted online.

Cooper has been a strong opponent of bullying. He has spent a lot of time on his show and on other programs speaking out about the suicides among young men and women that were done in response to years of being bullied.

If you can, watch all four parts of Cooper’s video clips below.

Watch with your kids.

Cooper asks students to take a pledge to speak out against bullying.

Because studies show that if even one person speaks up and points out the behavior, bullies are likely to stop doing what they are doing.

All it takes is one person to say, “Whoa, what are you doing?!” or “Hey, that’s really mean!”

As usual, it is silence that is deadly.

And cyber-bullying is a disaster.

Because once words and images go viral, there is no escape for the target.

Only torment and embarrassment and shame.

It’s time to stop using our technology to hurt.

How do we teach our children to stand up against the bullies? How do we get them to risk everything to protect someone else? How do we get them to make better choices? How do we move toward civility and tolerance?

If you have a child who has been bullied, or a child who is complaining about feeling like a bystander (which is how many of us feel during our middle and high school years), please check out I Survived The Mean Girls, which offers a supportive community for people who have been bullied or who have witnessed bullying.

It is hard to admit this, but I wasn’t always the nicest girl.

At one time in my life, I cared a lot about being popular.

I cared so much that sometimes I ridiculed and teased other people.

Or I stood by while others were teased.

And I did nothing.

These are the things about which I am now deeply ashamed.

Sins for which I have tried to atone.

Today I’m guest posting over at Kelly K’s blog, I Survived The Mean Girls.

.

Kelly’s blog is designed for people to share their stories about teen bullying.

To let others know they are not alone.

Unfortunately, I’m telling it straight.

From the other side.

From a different place of cruelty and weakness.

It isn’t always pretty.

If you know someone who is having a hard time with bullying, this is the place for that person to go.

Please, help spread the word.

People who tweet can find community on Twitter @OstracizedTeens

So click on the big red lockers and read about the person I used to be.

A long time ago.

© Renée Schuls-Jacobson 2011. All rights reserved.

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