collectively sorry

I heard this opening essay on one of my favourite shows last week. I stopped in my tracks, standing stock still in the middle of the kitchen, coffee cup in hand. Breathing and listening. And, it's stayed with me. And I've discussed it with my own teens, trying to not sound absolutely completely freaked out. Breathing and listening again.

I don't know if this story has made it past the Canadian border, but in a way I hope it has. You can google her name and find the original video if you wish: I warn you, you may become nauseated. I did. Apparently her Mum has said that the video should remain available... that this is what her daughter would've wanted. 

I thought the second half of his essay hit it... bang on:

... the suggestion will reek of arrogance and denial, 

and it is that denial that may be our greatest battle in this moment

as if a previous generation’s difficulties

should form the prescription

for inaction and dismissal now,

as if we don’t have the evidence 

that this is a new kind of epidemic

  ~  quite the opposite  ~

shame on those amongst us 

who would misunderstand the way

in which the world has changed

yes we have suffered bullying in the past,

(many of us know that all too intimately)

but we did not live in a world of social media...

of Facebook taunts that can invite 

a pile-on of participants from around the world

that will live in infamy,

in online pages that are near impossible to extinguish,

that can follow a young teen to any computer screen,

no matter how far her family moves to stem the tide,

no matter how hard they try to hide

  ~  on the contrary  ~

we should not rest 

until all of us together -- as a national community --

take on the bullies who will try to tear us down

we should not rest 

until any and every teen understands that

it is okay to be 

unique, 

themselves, 

different -- or the same --

immune from societal blame

we should not rest