So in interviewing Pat, I learned A LOT. I’ve been friends with him for YEARS, but I don’t think I even knew of HALF of the stuff he shared with me. I knew he kept to himself and for a while, but I didn’t know about how bad it got. I knew about the issues with the school because well I overheard grown up talk. Pat, having known him for so long, and our families being so close? He’s like a brother to me, and like any good sister, when I WAS around I WOULD try and stand up for him. I said to him I thought that maybe I made a bigger target on him, because “he was being protected by a girl”. He tells me I’m wrong. Kids can be cruel, this well used sentence keeps playing over and over in my head, even though this project has just started. The fact kids made fun of him for having psoriasis, I felt the protective older sister thing for him, but really, that’s a health issue, he has NO control over. This reference might be on a lesser scale but would you make fun of some one for having cancer? Like I said lesser scale, but the idea is the same. Another thing he said after the interview was that if we realize it or not, we’re ALL bullies at one point or another. I’d have to agree with that. I know for a fact, there was a girl I hurt. I wasn’t relentless, but I DID hurt her. FORTUNEATELY with her, we’ve gotten past that, AND she has offered to share some of her stories. SHOULD any of them be about me, I won’t be proud to share the posts, but I WILL share them, and face the music. I’m VERY proud Pat was able to share this, and a little surprised he didn’t chose to be anonymous. BUT in the last 6 years (wow I still can’t believe that part) Pat HAS come out of that shell he used for protection and while , from what I’ve seen anyway, he is still cautious with people, he is now out there socially. That’s another win for our side!
That being said, a story was shared with me today that was a lose for our side. This is Courtney Brown's story:http://news.ca.msn.com/local/novascotia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=28248512
And this is a PERFECT example of why I chose to do this blog series. Thanks to Jenn for sharing that story with me.
Edition #3 hits the net tomorrow, featuring my friend Melissa. In previous posts I've mentioned a group of my friends and I used to be friends with the kids who got picked on, Melissa was one of them, so watch for that one tomorrow
Quick reminders, thus far all the people who have contributed to the Anti Bully Blog series have given me the green light to put this out there. If you have anything you'd like to say or ask anyone featured thus far, facebook, or e-mail me nancy.wood@mbsradio.com . Remember to repost the crap out of these posts, we need to get the word out there, these kids aren't alone! And finally, if you have some artistic abilities and would like to do a blog logo for us e-mail it to me and it could be featured on an up coming blog post. Currently featuring one done by Nate, thanks again Nate!
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