Caring Captains, Kind Kids



I had an incident happen when I was subbing today that has got me thinking. Long story short--I made a girl cry.
This sweet kid, and I knew she was sweet, said a rude, sexist thing to a classmate. When I asked a kid to come help me, I said, "I need a boy. I choose you," and pointed to a boy. The girl said, "I don't know if he's a boy."
That's when I said: "That is a bullying comment and I won't tolerate it." I probably said it in capital letters. I used my, I'm-not-pissed-but-what-you-just-did-really-wasn't-cool voice. It's not a lovely voice. It's a boy-did-you-blow-it voice. Yes, I used that voice.
And she started to cry. Not big, wrenching, red-faced sobs. The head bowed, let-me-fall-in-a-hole crying. Several girls swarmed to comfort her, but no-one shot me any what-a-meanie-you-are looks. They knew I was right. The class, previously bouncing off the walls, went silent. It was a rather poignant moment, if you want to know. Talk about timing. Serendipity. God brings us lessons when we need it kind of thing.



The ironic part of this was we had just gotten finished talking about bullying.
The kind of sucky part of this was it was her birthday.
But what I've been thinking since that incident (which was completely appropriate what I did and I don't regret it for a second) was how much focus we are putting on BULLYING. This is a negative term. We say it over and over. In fact, in this school, they are "Bullying Busters." They are focusing on the negative issue and not the solution. The word bullying should rarely be said--ever. I mean, EVER. Instead, why not focus on what we want? Compassion. Kindness. Caring. Respect.


Oh, I know they do mention this, but usually the context is: we are going to stop bullying, so let's show some respect. Because we are against bullying. Bullying is bad. So be nice. Who wants to be a bully? Stand up to bullying. Over and over--the B word.
What needs to happen is: we need to insist on kindness. We need to require love, caring, respect.
Send the message to the Universe: We Care for our Classmates.  This School Rocks with Respect! Instead of bullying busters, be Caring Captains, Respect Revolutionaries, Kind Kids.
Turn this thing around.
#LoveIsTheOnlyAnswer

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