Obama Addresses Bullying

Bullying of gay youth specifically has lead to a number of suicides. This is a big problem righ now. Most of the time, adults never intervene and brush off the affects of bullying because they view it as a "right of passage" or a way to "build character." Bullying is much more intense than it used to be with the use of the internet giving way to cyber bullying. Before the use of the internet, children used to just deal with being bullied and harassed at school, when they got home it was safe. But now with cyberbullying, it never stops and they cannot even escape the harassment once they are home. Many kids are tormented so immensely that they feel the only way it will get better is if they take their life. We have all seen countless headlines about a parent coming home to find their child has taken their life because the bullying they endured. We are seeing more frequently that the reason these children are being bullied by their peers is because they are gay or their peers believe they are. We have to really be more aware of what is going on and stop making excuses for the act of bullying. It is not okay to let it happen and it is not okay for any child to go through that. For some reason we expect these young children to be able to be strong enough to handle being attacked every day and trust that things will get better. President Obama addressed the issue of gay youth suicides and school bullying in a Politics Daily article and said that there is a law against this kind of harassment that we should make children aware of to understand how serious this is and also that there is a values component, we need to treat others as we would like to be treated and this belief is taught at home. Parents need to take more of a responsibility for teaching their children respect and how to treat others. Most learned behaviors especially in young children reflect what is modeled and learned at home. Obama even reflected on his own experience being bullied as a child, "I do know what it's like to grow up feeling like sometimes you don't belong. It's tough." He offered a message of hope to those being bullied: "You are not alone. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything to deserve being bullied. And there is a whole world waiting for you, full of possibilities... There are people out there who love you and care about you, just the way you are. . . . You've got to reach out to people you trust." I think the biggest determining factor in a child choosing to fight or attempt taking their life is whether or not they have that support system and feel loved and connected to someone in their life. Here is a video of Obama addressing this important issue.