Throughout history there are great examples of how courage and conviction of principles, especially those embracing love, kindness and tolerance for all, will always deflate or beat the bullies.
These are worth noting this week as the nation will mark Pink Shirt Day, a campaign to raise awareness against bullying and a day to mark the courage of two young Nova Scotia students -- David Shepherd and Travis Price - who had enough of bullying at schools. They did it in 2007 with a simple message of distributing 50 pink shirts after a younger student was bullied for wearing a pink one to school.
It was truly a moment of courage, one done without violence and countered with the overriding principle of compassion for the vulnerable. Their simple act prompted provincial governments across Canada to finally recognize the problem.
Yes, it takes courage to stand up to bullies. Recently I read a book about a 21-year-old German woman by the name of Sophie Scholl, who in 1943 dared to stand up to the biggest bully of them all - Adolph Hitler. She was the heart and soul of The White Rose, a group of students who passively resisted the monstrous excesses of the Nazi war machine by distributing leaflets. She was ultimately caught and executed, but her commitment to stand up without resorting to violence for what was right has since made her a hero in today's peace-loving Germany.
Sophie Scholl made a difference, as did David Shepherd and Travis Price 10 years ago.
Thirty-five years ago as a cub reporter for an Ontario television station I was faced with an encounter with a bully, which was in fact an entire hockey team. The previous night the station broadcast my report on the goonery of the team during a major tournament. The following morning the entire squad confronted me with hockey sticks waving menacingly in my face, along with copious verbal threats. There was nowhere to go. And although I was shaking, I stood my ground. That afternoon my news director Karl Sepkowski, a tall, grim-faced looking older man who had barely said five words to me previously, called me into his office.
"Bachusky, I want you to read this," he said. It was a letter he had written to the local team's manager. It said, "The conduct of your team will not be tolerated. We support our reporter's broadcast report."
The bully had been vanquished passively. I would not be bullied. And no one in this great community has to be either. We all need to just believe.
Johnnie Bachusky is the editor of the Innisfail Province.
