If you are not a teacher, a school-aged child or the parent of one, Pink Shirt Day (Wednesday, February 22) probably passed by you with little notice. On this day, the wearing of a pink shirt symbolizes an individual’s commitment to kindness and taking a stand against bullying behaviour.
Nobody spoke much about bullying when I was a kid. It just seemed to be an accepted part of life in the playground or high school hallways. Maybe it was just seen, by the adults around us, as a sort of right of passage: most kids bullied at some point, and were bullied at another… this was just what you had to get through on the way to becoming an adult.
I am sure plenty of people still think of it this way, and many dismiss current classroom conversations on this topic as “fluff.” I see these conversations as being about much more than making kids “nice” or forcing them to simply get along: they are lessons in power – or at least they should be.
And most of us adults could use a refresher course, or maybe even a crash course. The institutions that run our lives determine the balance of power in the world around us. Those of us fortunate enough not to notice are the ones who hold that power.
Our legal system is supposed to be an equalizer, and there are parts of it that demonstrate a real commitment to the purpose. But if you can afford to fight – you are more likely to win. So power is rewarded yet again, and inequality deepens.
I’m uncertain of my ability to have effective conversations on this kind of thing with a four-year-old. So I’m hopeful that next year, when my kid hits kindergarten, I’ll have his teachers to help me out.
Also, I don’t ever want him to be bullied – and I don’t ever want him to be a bully. What I want is for him to be as wise and strong as the kids who started Pink Shirt Day back in 2007, David Shepherd and Travis Price. A grade nine student at their school was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt, so the boys organized a protest where everyone wore pink shirts to show their support. In this simple, creative action, the boys showed a remarkable understanding of power, and how to subvert it.
We don’t need to wear pink shirts to follow their lead, but maybe we need to keep reminding one another about the imbalances playing out around us, and commit to act as an equalizing force – even when it doesn’t affect us directly.
editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com
