Don,
Do we have any statistics how many suicides attempted or completed each year?
Johnny
Sent from my iPad
Although I applaud Dan Savage’s vision of â€Å"it gets better,� he gives very bad advice indeed when he says targets of bullying should â€Å"tough it out.� Kids struggling with the depression associated with bullying despair of being told to â€Å"be strong.� That’s just setting one more social expectation they can feel they fall short of. And if they feel they can’t â€Å"tough it out� then is suicide the fallback alternative? It’s in the nature of toxic circumstances that, if uncorrected, they will lead to deaths. Bullying is the problem, and it can’t be tolerated if we are to save vulnerable lives.
Targets of bullying and their allies have the right to be safe and to expect effective adult intervention to interdict bullying. The key is empowering targets to believe that they can take action to get their civil rights and human dignity respected. I like the concept of â€Å"make it better,� because it reinforces the idea that by insisting on their rights kids have the ability to bring about change. That’s an invaluable lesson going forward in life, and is indeed the secret of the success of our movement.
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