The new documentary film Bully opened on Friday. I have yet to see it. A quick run through the movie page of our local paper indicates that at this point, it isn't playing anywhere nearby. I'm going to keep looking because this is a huge issue. It hits close to home as my childhood and adolescence included playing both the role of the bullied and the bully. I remember neither fondly. One musters up feelings of pain. The other, feelings of deep shame and regret.
There's a part of me that would love to write bullying off as adolescent behavior that will someday pass. It might. And, it might make the victims better adults. But that's no excuse for us to turn our heads the other way while kids are locked in the midst of the pain and trying to deal with it all from a perspective that offers little sense of hope or escape. When we read the Gospel, we realize that if we are going to say we are followers of Jesus, we need to follow Him into this reality.
I want to point you to some resources on Bullying that you can use to get the thinking, the talking, and the ministering moving in the right direction.
First, there's the movie Bully. Here's the trailer. We need to go see it.
Second, there's the story of Megan Meier. We've posted the two video clips below on our Digital Kids Initiative site.
Finally, here's a link to a brand new handout we've put together as part of our Digital Kids Initiative here at CPYU: A Parent's Guide to Cyber-Bullying.
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