Speech

“When I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
Were the same thing
I thought they were both pork chops
And because my grandmother thought it was cute
And because they were my favourite
She let me keep doing it

Not really a big deal

One day
Before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees
I fell out of a tree
And bruised the right side of my body

I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it
Because I was afraid I’d get in trouble
For playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been

A few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise
And I got sent to the principal’s office
From there I was sent to another small room
With a really nice lady
Who asked me all kinds of questions
About my life at home

I saw no reason to lie
As far as I was concerned
Life was pretty good
I told her, “Whenever I’m sad
My grandmother gives me karate chops”

This led to a full scale investigation
And I was removed from the house for three days
Until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises

News of this silly little story quickly spread through the school
And I earned my first nickname

Pork Chop

To this day

I hate pork chops”

On February 19^th, Shane Koyczan released his poem “To This Day” on Youtube. It quickly became a viral hit, garnering millions of views and shares. Koyczans only goal was to spread his message of compassion: how we need to confront bullying with acceptance.  Yet with 2.3 million children bullied every day, we must ask ourselves “what are we doing wrong?” America’s schools are battlegrounds and kids must fight day after day just to keep living. Why do we worry about terrorists bombing our schools when the real terrorists are 10 years old and on the playground? Bullying is much too close for comfort, and it has a grasp on everybody. How many of us have been called a name? How many of us have been teased for being different? We can no longer chalk up bullying as “kids being kids”. Instead, we must never treat bullying as normal and take better care in educating kids, especially with the examples we set.

When we see kids fighting, we brush it off as normal behavior. When we hear children teasing and name calling, we say “kids can be cruel” and move on. But kids can be cruel, to an extent that we can’t even begin to realize. When suicide is the third-leading cause of death among people our age we can no longer pretend that bullying is an urban legend. Too often, we make thoughtless remarks that can cut just as deeply as any knife. “You’re stupid”, “you’re ugly”. Instead of thinking of these cruel comments as typical, we must realize that we are being hurtful. These little actions, along with more outright bullying, slowly break down innocent people. Yet, though we realize that words can be hurtful, and though we know that the phrases we use can be misinterpreted, we continue to say the same mean things over and over again. There’s a certain normalcy in verbal abuse, but this is in no way a good thing. In order to truly stop bullying, we must first realize that bullying is not normal and should never be treated as such.

However, it’s not enough to simply say that we shouldn’t bully others. Our actions speak volumes louder than our words. It is up to us, the role models of our siblings and the younger generations to lead by example. I oftentimes find myself slipping into the eerily comfortable role of provoking my brother. “You’re annoying”. “Shut up”. He and I fall back on the all-too-familiar pattern of insults, mocking and rudeness. Reflecting on how I’m setting a bad example is easy. Changing myself is the hard part. It is the tolerance of others and the acceptance of ourselves that will stop bullying. No matter where we go in life, we will meet entirely different people. Sometimes we’ll clash, sometimes we’ll blend, and sometime we won’t fit in. But, rather than goading others to change, we must change ourselves. The world today is not one color, one kind, or one type. As we grow to be more different, we must grow to be more accepting. It starts with our generation; it is up to us to set the example of open-mindedness.

With the mainstream coverage of bullying through documentaries such as “Bully”, viral videos such as “To This Day” and campaigns such as ‘It Gets Better’ and ‘The Bully Project’ there’s no doubt that bullying has become a serious issue within America. Yet despite the horror stories of suicide and abuse, bullying is still regarded as harmless teasing, a normal part of growing up. But victims from “Bully” have shown the stark reality of “just teasing”. When a good day is “people leaving their hands off me”, when “I feel like I belong somewhere else”, and when an 11-year-old committing suicide is considered a typical childhood, we must change. Wake up America. Realize that the agony any seemingly ordinary kids face every day should never be an issue. Though these abusers may be young, any person who is old enough to understand what pain is is old enough to understand not to cause it. Bullying is not normal.  Though we may say potentially hurtful words and laugh it off, too often the marks we leave are scars. So, my fellow students, let us lead by example. Let us guide these next generations as they grow. Let us preach tolerance and acceptance where others before us only taught hate. Let us not forget that change can only happen if we want it to.

“We weren’t the only kids who grew up this way
To this day
Kids are still being called names
The classics were
Hey stupid
Hey spaz
Seems like each school has an arsenal of names
Getting updated every year
And if a kid breaks in a school
And no one around chooses to hear
Do they make a sound?
Are they just the background noise
Of a soundtrack stuck on repeat
When people say things like
Kids can be cruel?
Every school was a big top circus tent
And the pecking order went
From acrobats to lion tamers
From clowns to carnies
All of these were miles ahead of who we were
We were freaks
Lobster claw boys and bearded ladies
Oddities
Juggling depression and loneliness playing solitaire spin the bottle
Trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal
But at night
While the others slept
We kept walking the tightrope
It was practice
And yes
Some of us fell

But I want to tell them
That all of this [stuff]
Is just debris
Leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought
We used to be
And if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself
Get a better mirror
Look a little closer
Stare a little longer
Because there’s something inside you
That made you keep trying
Despite everyone who told you to quit
You built a cast around your broken heart
And signed it yourself
You signed it
“They were wrong”
Because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a clique
Maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything
Maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth
To show and tell but never told
Because how can you hold your ground
If everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it
You have to believe that they were wrong

They have to be wrong

Why else would we still be here?”