Making a difference starts with one person with one voice taking a stand. From that one, others join the cause and that voice begins to get louder and louder until it is heard. Sometimes though, the voice fades out when it is thought that the message got through.
This weekend in Winnipeg’s River Heights, residents found a message stuffed in their mailboxes. It was from a girl named Nat, a girl who wants a change.
The message wasn’t asking for money or to support a sports team or school trip. It was a message asking for compassion and a call to action. Nat was asking the community to stand up to bullying and to help others.
We don’t know what prompted the flyer to the neighbourhood but we do know that bullying is an issue that happens everyday at school, in the workplace, in recreation or social settings and on-line.
According to PREVNet, a national network of researchers and organizations, working together to stop bullying in Canada:
- 75% of people say they have been affected by bullying in Canada.
- Peers are present 90% of the time the bullying occurs
- When peeps intervene, most incidents stop within 10 seconds
- 1 in 5 teens report being victimizes electronically
Nat’s flyer is an example of one person doing something to keep an issue in the front of peoples minds. Her voice is not letting the issue fade.
As she put it so clearly in her message, “Let’s not be the bully, Let’s stand up to bullying and help others.”
-News4 Staff-
