Is It Bullying Awareness Week Or Not?

We are now day 7 into Bullying Awareness Week – a vision first started 10 years ago by a teacher in Calgary by the name of Bill Belset after a series of terrible school shootings took place (and were later linked to childhood bullying).  Over the last decade, his message of bringing an end to bullying has spanned the entire globe, bringing in support and events all over the World.  1 week dedicated to bringing attention to something horrible… doesn’t sound like much, does it?  And yet while news media all over the planet announce this week as the official Bullying Awareness Week (it even has its own Hashtag, #BAW2011, on Twitter), I have not yet seen a single News outlet in BC announce it, or even mention it.  Are the news stations so oblivious to the fact that bullying takes place in our Province, the same as everywhere else?  Are they blind to the problems that kids face?  or are they just brainwashed into thinking that Occupy Vancouver is a more important issue?  Maybe a bunch of people living in tents at the art gallery, drinking and doing drugs in public while they declare that they no longer recognize the authority of the police and fire department when it suits their purposes (right up until someone overdoses on-site) are more newsworthy than kids killing themselves to escape the torment they are put through at school and in their neighbourhoods.  Oh sure, a bullying victim kills themselves and the news jumps on it for a few days, crying about how if only something could have been done, or if only we knew sooner, or how can bullying be allowed to get to this point. (more…)