Saturday, August 27, 2011

Torquere Charity Blitz

September 17 is the magical day when the anthology is due out! I hope it sells amazingly well so the It Gets Better Project will get loads of money to continue its work.

See, I'm philanthropic.

It's a really great charity, supporting gay, lesbian, bisexual transgendered and other bulled teens. You can take the pledge on their website (it's relatively painless). The most important thing you can do is pay attention. Don't let bullying go on when you can do something about it. Don't just keep your mouth shut. We have to speak up if we want to help.

Bullying is something that goes on in schools everywhere, and these days it's even worse with social networking sites and "cyber" bullying. It doesn't matter where bullying takes place, it's still emotionally damaging to the person on the receiving end.

I went to school in the middle of nowhere, at a tiny little school where I literally knew everyone's name. I was poked fun at, but mostly, people left me alone because I had this way about me. For some reason or another, I scared people, so they left me alone. Other people were not so lucky. I wish I could say that I stood up to every bully I saw, but really, I only stood up to the ones that hurt my friends. High school felt like a war, and I wanted to make it out unscathed.

Bullying can come from anyone, be it a fellow student, parent, or even teachers. Teachers can be bullies, and I think a lot of parents ignore their kids when they say something about a teacher. We're supposed to respect teachers implicitly, they are in the right, the child is wrong.

I don't particularly know where that pattern of thinking started, but I'm determined that my potential children will never feel that way. Kids might be crazy until they turn twenty-three, but that doesn't mean they're wrong about that math teacher being out to get them.

In my case, it was a crazy art teacher.

When your family supports you, it makes it easier to face off against bullies. It makes it easier for you to believe, it really does, get better.

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