Please.
Help create a vibrant culture of kindness among our youth.
According to national trend data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there has been continual, steady increase among adolescents considering and attempting suicide since 2009 (CDC, 2013).[i]
Why in the world is this happening to our beautiful children?
The same data shares that between 2009 and 2013, there has been a steady increase in the number of teens who reporting having missed school due to feeling unsafe either on the way to school or during the school day.[ii] Additionally, there has been essentially NO change in the 20% of U.S. high school students reporting that they were bullied on school property between 2009 and 2013.[iii]
Why doesn’t this alarm us? Really and truly alarm us?
Its all too common to see when referred to life as a teen: bullying, torment, physical harassment, teasing, emotional blackmail, seclusion, isolation, loneliness, violence, aggression, hurting one’s self, and suicide.
Is this how their lives should be?
EVERYONE wants to be loved. EVERYONE deserves to be cared for. EVERYONE should have friends. EVERYONE is allowed to feel safe. EVERYONE can have joy. It is not just for the beautiful and popular; the athletic and brave. It is for everyone. For my kids and yours. For the generations who come behind them.
The words that guide their lives ought to switch and become: acceptance, honor, love, grace, gratitude, gratefulness, sharing, caring, embracing, celebration.
Teaching goodness is a practice. You describe it until it becomes second nature. You show it. You live it. You remind others of it. You embody it. You never let it get by you. We all do it. It becomes a norm. Then, and only then…
Kindness before being the best. Kindness before being popular. Kindness before external beauty.
Before everything.
Love, Wendy
[i] http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/pdf/trends/us_suicide_trend_yrbs.pdf
[ii] http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/pdf/trends/us_violence_trend_yrbs.pdf
[iii] http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/pdf/trends/us_violence_trend_yrbs.pdf