Antigay bullying prompts suicide

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by keltic63

Certainly there are those that allow bullying to go on, and perhaps some neanderthals who encourage it. What I'm trying to say here is that even for those that have proven programs in place, we can't replace those with the ultimate responsibility for teaching the kids values, the parents. Not to mention the parents who think that it is ok to bully LGBT people, or who harbor some other prejudices.

Hiya Keltic,

I never said here that parents do not have ultimate responsibility for the attitudes and behaviors they teach their children (which is roughly 90% by example, 10% by what they say.) You're right!! We need parents to get THEIR act together! I realize now I probably never wrote that on this forum - I've written and said things like that all over my emails to people, letters to the editor (of 4 papers), and all over facebook if I remember my notes correctly.

In any case - YES! I'm really riding the schools too because of what I witnessed in the past, and because of things I hear about schools locally and around the nation that are not stepping up to responsibilities of this sort, either through fear of the political environment, or through subtle attitudes of sympathy with the perpetrators.

In no way do I intend to express that only one corner of society is responsible for this bullying problem. To the contrary, I mean to express that WE ALL ARE. That's why I've been writing "WE NEED TO" do, this or that, all over this thread. The emphasis is on the "WE" - and by 'we' I don't mean the 5 or 6 of us writing on this thread discussion, but I mean the couple hundred million of us residing in the United States. That's the WE I mean. It never occurred to me anyone would think I meant just the school teachers. I was in a fury and grief over the suicides so I thought I stated things clearly that I never made explicit. Being so upset, I thought everything I meant was going to be obvious by the sheer power of how important this whole matter is. (Silly, silly Zerbie)

Those of us like you and I who are already doing everything in our personal power to solve the problem are in no way at fault - we are living up to our responsibility. But until many more people say, "Hey, you know - I'M the one who has to say something about what my kids are doing," the problem will not be successfully rectified. A majority of our society needs to sit on such behavior. WE ALL need to act responsibly to create the environment our children need. We means teachers, school administrators, parents, and community members.

Just imagine this world if 90% of all American citizens spoke up calmly and firmly and said, "Stop that. We don't act like that," every single time our kids started in with the verbal harassment and physical domineering towards a peer. Parents, teachers, classmates - RELIGIOUS LEADERS! - community bystanders, etc. That's where we need to get to. Where people have a sense of honor about how they behave and would feel ashamed to engage in bullying behavior. That's where we need to get to.