Make a change!

Today’s posting has little to do with the Angel of Music project though as I sit here writing this, I am realizing that ultimately, this musical offers the same message. As many of you have heard, in recent months, several kids have committed suicide due to being bullied. The fact that they were gay means nothing. This is not new information. These events are not isolated.  Remember Matthew Shepard, who in 1998 was murdered by two boys simply for being gay. He was killed because he was different. What about the kid who shot up Columbine…bullied. They’ve all been bullied. Some are bullied so badly that the desperation to end life, be it their own or that of their bully leads them to do rash and illogical things. We cannot be mad at these people. It’s our own fault. Because we did nothing to stop it.

I watched The Laramie Project this afternoon. I worked on this show several years ago, and had the opportunity while I was living in Denver to go visit Laramie. I remembered the story, and I cried. I reflected on my own life, and I cried. I cried not only because I had been bullied as a kid. But also because I have been the bully. There was a girl in high school that I, and a group of others used to torment. Mostly it was just name calling and berating but it was still bullying. I spent several hours thinking about it today. I’m 27. I remember the kids who bullied me in first grade. I remember their names. I remember their faces. I remember their comments to me and I know that girl in high school remembers us. I sent her an email. I sent her an email apologizing. Not that it’s going to make a difference but I felt it was necessary.

Today I want you to think about your life. Have you bullied someone? Have you been bullied? What can do you do to change that? Erik (our Phantom) is no different then the kids today who get bullied. They get bullied because their different, as Erik was different. This musical’s underlying message of acceptance is important. Listen to it. When you’re done reading this blog, I want you to read another one. http://www.danoah.com/2010/10/memoirs-of-bullied-kid.html Then I want you to get on facebook, and twitter, and myspace and your email and I want you to repost it. Make other people read it. Bullying will not end if we sit around and let it happen.

If you have kids, talk to them. Find out what’s going on in their lives. Tell them you love them, and you care about them. Talk to them about bullying and help them understand how important it is. Tell them, that they can make a difference by standing up against it. Hatred it real, and it’s effects are devastating. “Change doesn’t happen, when people with voices don’t use them”.