A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM KEVIN EPLING:

International Stand4Change is this Friday! And what a day it will be. We now have over 1 MILLION students in every state in 70 countries, making a global stand on the #1 issue in schools after funding. Be sure to check out the website www.stand4change.org  for the flier and more info.

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We will break the Million mark before Friday, we have messages from one of the stars of GLEE, we are gathering celebrities in major cities to attend events and singer Cody Simpson has taken the message to Australia. As many of us stood together years ago for Hands Across America we finally give our children their time to stand up. Not only for themselves but more importantly for each other. Some schools are planning very sample events, some will just acknowledge the day, some at a different time, and others are going all out. It is up to the schools and the students to decide. Yet we have had some schools/districts say they will not participate because they feel it is a “one-time thing” or if they do participate it will only “bring attention” to the issue.

Even other anti-bullying groups are not sharing the info because it is not “their” group. Personally I think these are very archaic ways of looking at a very real and very different problem. If you choose as a teacher or administrator, law enforcement officer or head of an anti-bullying group, to treat it as a “one time thing” than yes that is all it will be. But this can be used as a catalyst to get them to act. It can be the beginning of something great. And if someone really thinks that participating will only “bring attention” to the issue and create discussion, and yes action on the issue, than I am sorry but that is exactly why it should be done. This is no longer an issue to simply skirt around, it must be addressed and when students can see themselves with a million other students they can know they are not alone.

For every reason I get from schools and communities of why not to do it, I will give you one reason why: the kids. It is about them and how we want them to act and help us take control of this situation. If we keep doing it they way we have always done it, because of the way it affects us and our “routines”, we will continue to fail. Don’t be a Bystander any longer, Stand up and be counted on May 4th, 2012… I will, will you?