Image via Wikipedia Today’s public schools are plagued by an old disease. People have been fighting this disease since the dawn of man. It is an illness that has led to more deaths than cancer, HIV, and the black plague combined. The disease is intolerance. Now, granted, in most school cases the death toll isn’t very high but just one death due to intolerance is unacceptable. That is why I want to bring as much attention to an article that my brother sent to me earlier this week as possible.Rick Reilly of ESPN wrote an article, Eagles Over Wolves in a Rout. The article talks about a little boy, Nadin Khoury, who had been bullied by several students from his school in Philadelphia. When I say bullied I mean harassed, beaten, dragged along the ground, pushed into a tree, and hung on a fence while adults just watched. It wasn’t until one of the bullies posted the video of the beating on YouTube.com that Nadin’s mother was able to press charges. Nadin and his mother have since decided to take their story public in order to raise awareness. In doing so they caught the eye of the local paper, and then the national media grabbed hold of the story.
Nadin and his mother were invited to be on The View. While on the show Nadin was asked why he was making his story public knowledge. He responded with, "Next time maybe it could be somebody smaller than me. Maybe next time, somebody could really get hurt." This 13 year old boy knows that by telling his story he could be the victim of more abuse, but he tells his story so that maybe what happened to him won’t happen to anyone else. For showing such courage Nadin was surprised by his favorite athlete, DeSean Jackson of the Eagles. Jackson hugged the young boy and praised him for what he is doing. To hear what else Jackson has done for the boy read the article at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6120346 .
Not all bullying victims are beaten like Nadin was. In fact many are the victims of verbal, digital, and visual harassment. The old sticks and stones talk is meaningless to children that are the targets of bullies. Being called names at school is hurtful, but what makes it worse is the fact that even after school there is no escape these days. The internet has made it possible to torment someone at all hours of the day. Facebook and twitter allow people to write anything they want with no repercussions. Cells phones make people accessible wherever they go and thus easier to harass at all times of the day via text messages. Kids have taken these great new tools of society and turned them into a nightmare for others. The attacks through these mediums have gotten so bad that it has actually cost some kids their lives.
Why are kids like Nadin being bullied in the first place? The answer is simple, intolerance. People view differences as being weird and wrong. The reason I call intolerance a plague is because of how it spreads from person to person, from father to son, from mother to daughter. It is also treatable. We treat intolerance with education and acceptance. Different can seem weird and that is ok, but when we decide that different is wrong without understanding it then we see bullying.
Everyone needs to be like Nadin, and stand up to bullying. When you see someone treating another poor for no good reason don’t just stand idly by and allow it to continue. Stand up for those that are smaller than you and try to make sure that no one else is hurt due to bullying on your watch. DeSean Jackson is making his stand by starting a non-profit organization called DeSean Jackson Against Bullying. What will you do?
No comments:
Post a Comment