Anti-bullying signal-boost.

[gaudior]

People have been talking about bullying lately. Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project has drawn attention to the suicides of gay teenagers, and has inspired the Make It Better Project, to give youth and concerned adults the tools they need to stop bullying in the schools. (I strongly recommend MIBP's Take Action page, which has such useful links as information about The Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262/S. 3739) and how you can support it). And both homasse and seishonagon linked to an insightful and useful article by Kate Harding, On Good Kids and Total Assholes.

I'm glad people are talking about this so much-- it's making me think about my own childhood, and how much I accepted kids making fun of me, ostracizing me, and generally making me miserable as "just the way things are." That understanding of the universe and my place in it had long-lasting effects, and I am delighted and grateful that people now are talking seriously about how to stop bullying.

(I may at some point make a larger post, but at the moment, I wanted to signal-boost. Yay, signal-boosting.)

--R

Comments

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

I also think it's worth noticing that changing lifestyles is a lot of work, and while it's a good idea, it may not be a person's priority at the moment.

The last time I went to my doctor, he asked about lifestyle and exercise (I don't, really), and then he showed me how my weight had been increasing over the past five years, and talked a bit about metabolism and aging. And then he said that since I was about to quit both my jobs and move across the country, now might not be the right time for me to make huge lifestyle changes, but this was something it was useful for me to be aware of. And I said thank you, and have been thinking more about diet and exercise, and once I finish doing a huge home repair project (hauling 500 bricks totally counts as an exercise program, I am just saying), will start actually doing push-ups and sit-ups and stair-climbing and things that I haven't done for years cuz they annoy me. I'm glad my doctor talked to me about this, but I'm really glad he talked to me about it in a way which was respectful, not pushy, and acknowledged that he was asking me to do something which is not easy. I think that's really, really, really important.