“It Gets Better” by Ira Socol
In this video, Joel Burns, an openly gay man describes his experiences along with the harsh recent experiences of the youth nearby. He begins telling about a young boy named Asher Brown was harassed and bullied and called names like “faggot”. His parents called the school numerous times, but nothing ever stopped the other kids from bulling him. Unfortunately after years of harassment, he had had enough and took his father’s gun and shot himself in the head. That’s right; a 13 year old boy felt that the only solution to the horrible bulling he has gone through was to end his life. This is so sad because it is something that could have been prevented. This poor child never even got a chance at life.
High schooler, Billy Lucas, is another boy that was harassed and called names over and over. When he had all he could take, he believed his only option was to hang himself, which he did.
Another high schooler, Justin Aaberg, who was an openly gay student, had to face bulling as well. As he got older it got to the point that he couldn’t bear any more trauma from the other kids and he hung himself as well.
Seth Walsh began being teased in the 4th grade and it continued as he grew older. Students would tell him that “the world didn’t need another queer” and that he should “go hang himself”. Unfortunately he did just that. He survived for 9 days on life support and at the young age of 13 he passed away.
These specific instances really hit me. It is unbelievable that kids can be so cruel. It breaks my heart to know that in all of these instances, families were torn apart. Parents and loved ones had to witness their child or grandchild found dead because other people are so pitiless.
According to the video, teen bulling and suicide has reached an epidemic rate. In many of the cases it, students are harassed because of sexual preference or the fact that they are simply different than others. Schools are supposed to be a safe place for students to learn and make friends, but they don’t seem to be. They seem to be a bully’s hunting ground and that is something that has to change.
It is important for students to know and be reminded that people in their home and school may not understand them, but it does get better. In this video, he describes the brutal harassment he himself suffered during his childhood. He thought there was something wrong with him and that no one would understand him. He had never told this story to anyone before and he knew that his political standing could be at stake, but he knew it was important for him to let other kids know that there is so much more to life than the bulling. Life will get better, people will begin to accept you and you will find new friends who accept you for who you are. Even his “tough cowboy” dad woke up from an operation and told Joel that he is so happy that he is there for him. This instance hits Joel hard because there are many times that he had wished he wasn’t alive. The point that Joel wants to make is that kids need to give themselves a chance, things are going to be very hard at times, but don’t give up on the happiness that is to come.
After the video, Joel received a very well deserved standing ovation from the crowd. It was such a touching story that I wish all students could see, whether they are bullies or victims. This is becoming reality and happening far too often, it really isn’t fair and we must all take a stand to help prevent it!
This post is based on the recent death of the Notre Dame football videographer Declan Sullivan. Although many questions still haven’t been answered, the just of the story is that this 20 year old boy was up in a video tower overlooking football practice as he recorded during 50 mph winds. The tower ended up collapsing with the student and hit the road below. He was rushed to the hospital but didn’t survive the fall. Many questions arose about who should be at fault for this terrible accident.
In his post, Ira discusses how skewed priorities are in today’s society. He says football is at the top of almost every school across the nation and because of that, other students are considered inferior. Simply reality is that head football coaches are often the highest paid public official in the state, so obviously they are going to receive much attention. It’s sad to see that other students are suffering because a lack of attention to the MOST important things, the safety of students.
Although this may be true, I don't believe the football community can be blamed completely on this. Here is my reply to his post:
" Hi! I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at South Alabama. After hearing this story it broke my heart. I can't imagine what his family, friends, and the Notre Dame community is going through, but my prayers are out to them. I would have to agree with the above post that blame shouldn't all fall on the football community as adults. As a college student, with this JOB, it was his decision of whether or not it was safe to perform his job that day. There is definitely a chance that he felt pressured to go into the stand, but that is part of being an adult, you may have to face making tough decisions sometimes, even against the pressure of others. Again, it was an unfortunate ACCIDENT that could have been prevented, but I don't think you can truly place BLAME on anyone...it was a TRAGIC ACCIDENT!!
RIP DECLAN SULLIVAN "
With that being said, I would definitely recommend reading all of Ira Socol’s post on this matter, it is a real eye opener.
