Imagine for a moment you're in the living room of your house with young children playing and suddenly there is yelling coming from outside, punctuated with the unmistakable screams for help. You look outside the window and a gang of youths are violently beating up a younger and smaller teen.
Blood spills on the street. The young children beside you are witnessing this, bewildered and scared. The gang flees, leaving the bloodied and battered victim writhing on the pavement alone, praying that someone heard his anguished pleas for help.
It is a horrifying image to contemplate for sure but sadly it happened right here in Innisfail.
On Aug. 25 the usually quiet neighbourhood of Raspberry Park was shocked to its core over the violent teen beating of 14-year-old Aidan Remple by the hands of seven mostly larger and older youths, including one girl who was heard to repeatedly chant, “Keep on punching, keep it up.”
RCMP, to its credit, reacted quickly and decisively. At press time two 14-year-old youths were charged with assault with a weapon – Remple's longboard which the alleged assailants stole to batter the youth.
Innisfailians, like every other right-minded Canadian, are hearing and seeing way too much news about bullying. Last October, the country was shocked over the story of Amanda Todd, the young teen in British Columbia who posted a heart-wrenching nine-minute YouTube video called My Struggling, bullying, suicide and self-harm. The video went viral, receiving more than 1,600,000 views by Oct. 13, 2012. She had committed suicide the day before.
As sad as this young woman's death was, it no doubt raised awareness from coast to coast – even internationally -- on the cruelty of bullying and society's urgent need to address it. We all hoped everyone would finally get it, that bullying is absolutely wrong and everyone -- from school officials, to politicians and to parents – must do everything in their power to end it.
Sadly, we continue to be witness to it, and now Innisfailians must look inward and wonder how this nightmare could become reality in their backyards and yes, on their streets.
But there is hope, and it comes from the alleged victim himself. Aidan Remple and his family are fighting back. They are telling the bullies of Innisfail their conduct is unacceptable and won't be tolerated. Even as bullies passed their house and mocked Aidan last week after the attack, and even when one posted on Facebook to mock the RCMP probe into the Aug. 25 beating, the family stood tall and firm. It was the family's way of looking into the eyes of the bullies and saying, “Your time is up. You have to be accountable.”
Last week, there was another story in Canada with the same principle. Leonard Banga, the owner of a Saskatoon company, is standing tall from alleged intimidation tactics from the Hells Angels. He refuses to bend against the notorious motorcycle gang. News reports say Banga's life may be in danger but yet he won't yield. The principle of standing tall against bullies is too important.
This principle is also paramount for Aidan Remple, his family and the community. The bullies may still choose to hang around but their audience will stand tall, proud and resolute. If this is done bullies will lose their power -- ignored, permanently deflated and rendered inconsequential.
