Bully

Bully, directed by Lee Hirsch, is a documentary which shows the impact bullying has on several students and their families. The movie is powerful and should be viewed by all students, educators, and parents or basically, everyone. I felt so many emotions while watching the film and it is consuming my thoughts and conversation.

 After the film, Doug Fabrizio hosted a Q&A with the director where we learned more about the students and their families. I appreciated the director talking about the film initially receiving an R rating for language while another movie about children who battle until there is only one left was given a PG-13 rating. One person in the audience asked why people bully and I loved Lee's response as he explained that he is a filmmaker and not a social worker and his purpose is to show that one person can make a difference and we need to be talking about this issue and figuring what we do to change things so that children are safe on the bus and in school. I think that often the school counselors and administrators can be overwhelmed with all of their duties, and yet I feel there is so much that should and must be done. Any excuse such as "boys will be boys and that's how kids are," is not okay and it's time we each took a more vested interest in what's going on. I think it's also important to note that it's not always fellow students who bully. I know a couple of kids who are being bullied by teachers and my heart breaks to hear the kids say they hate school and are counting down the days until they no longer have to see the person making school difficult.

Go see this film and then instead of only talking about what can be done to make things better, let's take action and be part of the change. One person can make a difference.