There has been an onslaught of news about bullies in school. Reading these stories makes me truly sick to my stomach because honestly I’ve never witnessed such horrible kids in real life. Maybe it was because I grew up in Oklahoma, but I think my school was pretty nice. Sure there were the unpopular kids/loners but I don’t remember anyone beating them up…they were mostly just left alone and hung out with their own friends. It was hard reading some of these stories and thinking of one day having kids myself and having to worry about this. I’d like to share some of the stories I’ve been reading in hopes that we raise awareness about bullying in schools. I honestly think parents play a huge role in how their kids treat other people. I think it’s so important to just have respect for others…even if they are different from you. And to tell kids that bullying is so not ok.

The first story I read about was actually a blogger that I regularly read. She was forced to move because her daughter was getting bullied at school. I’m so happy to read that she will be moving to Oklahoma…from what I remember of growing up there….it is full of very friendly people! I was very much a minority there being an Asian but I don’t remember experiencing discrimination even once. Maybe I was just lucky but since moving out to LA, I witness discrimination much more out here.

Then I read the story of Phoebe Prince who committed suicide because she was bullied at school. She was only 15 years old. And to make matters worse, read what a mother of one of the bullies has to say. With parents like these of course there are bullies! They are telling their kids it’s ok to exchange mean words because that’s what kids do. At least she didn’t outright tell her to “harm herself”, right?

And lastly, this story has been gaining a lot of attention simply because of the absurdity of it all. First it came out that a high school actually canceled their prom because one of their students was a lesbian and wanted to bring her gf and wear a tuxedo (which was forbidden!). Then it turns out the parents of the students made their own prom and set up a “fake prom” for the lesbian student to attend with 5 other students (2 which had learning disabilities). The REST of the school went to the other prom set up by the parents. I. CAN. NOT. BELIEVE. THIS.

Not one single student told her the truth. Thank god she is graduating and can leave that horrible, backasswards town. I know that not everyone agrees with homosexuality but there is a level of decency that we should all have for each other as human beings.

All of these stories made me so sad…and the worst part is it seems like these bullies don’t even care what they did. For example, after Phoebe (2nd story) committed suicide, the bullies set up a facebook page called “we murdered phoebe prince” and how proud they were. uh??????? Are these kids even human???

I know we are being bombarded with everything that’s happened in Haiti but it really has been devastating to see what this natural disaster has done to what was already such a fragile country. Anything we can do to help is worth it and it’s been amazing how much people have donated already! A few stories and pictures that touched my heart:

An op-ed piece written by some doctors working with Doctors Without Borders in Haiti

Even though it seems like everyone has lost someone, their home, their way of life, it is amazing how people are helping each other. A lot of children have been orphaned. There is one beautiful little boy, who is about four years old. I don’t know where he came from or how he got into our makeshift hospital compound, because he doesn’t really have any injuries. I asked him if he was alone, and he told me, “Yes, I am alone, but I’m here with my friends.” I look around and all of his friends are people he doesn’t know, all waiting for surgery.

7 yr old Haitian boy gets rescued with a smile on his face – click to see photo!

The little Haitian boy who greeted rescuers with a beaming grin as they freed him from a huge pile of rubble said yesterday, “I smiled because I was free — I smiled because I was alive.”

7 yr old raises $240K for Haiti – it’s amazing no matter how old you are you CAN make a difference!

The faces of haiti by the big picture – best photo news blog covers Haiti

Haiti’s children on their own on shattered streets – it’s the hardest imagining these children who have lost their parents!

Google’s Haiti Earthquake page – great roundup of donation links and news

At the very least, text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts. This is SO easy to do and $10 is nothing to us but can mean SO much to them. It just takes 1 minute to do!!!