Stop It before It Starts: Bullying

The schoolyard is a site of struggle: a space where "the bully (the powerful) learns to subordinate and exclude "the other" (the powerless).  

Why has bullying become the norm? 

I had my first contact with bullying when I was in elementary school. I say, "contact with bullying" because it was common for my classmates to throw garbage at me and push me into bushes that were planted on school grounds. I was tossed about and picked on so often that even my teachers turned a blind-eye. No one spoke up for me and I was taught not to speak-up for myself. Don't rock the boat, so-to-speak. With more and more teen suicides due to bullying, it is time to speak-up against bullying. It is time to undo the silence. 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

       Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- 

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

- Martin Niemöller

I have been told not to take what people say so personally--that I need to "grow thicker skin". But, why is this? Why is a victim of bullying expected to consent to emotional (and physical) abuse? It's time we (as global citizens) started rocking the boat and reclaimed our right to "freedom, justice and peace".