(Presumably almost) no one is in favor of bullying, exclusion or ostracism. Things like this touch something in the vast majority of us, and there are probably many of us who have sat in parent meetings and nodded our heads when educators, principals or other staff talked about a school free from bullying.
But without singling out anyone - for this applies to everyone (signed to the highest degree); it's very comfortable when life flows, even your own children like the situation and carefree trudge to school every day. No conflicts, no calls from teachers. The child seems to enjoy himself, treats his classmates well and never falls victim to crap at recess. But at the same time, another child stands in the same schoolyard without that certainty, without security and with fear of either exclusion or vulnerability.
In many situations it helps me to think "all children are everyone's children" because what happens to others, could just as well have happened to me. What happens to other people's children could have happened to mine.
Of course, we can't all go into all the horrors of the world all the time, but gaining some perspective every now and then might help us in communicating with our own children. Because if we think about it, we don't just want to be "lucky" - that chance decides. We want to equip the children both for possible injustices they themselves may suffer (dare to tell) and to be able to withstand peer pressure when others turn on someone (and dare to tell).
Every year when school starts back up after the summer I think about this. Someone will stand there with a stomach ache for what might happen, someone will continue to feel invisible and insignificant and someone will terrorize someone else for another semester.
So - school starts! Time to make the fight for all children's right to a safe school yard our own?
