This weeks sad news about the cyber bullying that led Amanda Todd to take her life and the organized institutional bullying of Malala Yousafzai that caused her to be shot make me believe that we can all do better.
I believe that I've given my children the courage and independence to stand up for themselves, the honesty and integrity to stand up for what is right, the tool set to make good decisions. I trust them to use those tools, but there are moments that I wish I could turn back time to when they were little so that I still had ways to protect them, and could make sure that I really teach those lessons well.
We are surrounded by tragedies that we cannot control or influence. Try as we might, we cannot yet live disease free, we cannot prevent all accidents from happening. BUT we can, and we MUST, treat each other - everyone, everywhere - with respect, with open minds and open hearts, with the understanding that things are not black and white, not right or wrong, not a binary switch. We must stand up for one another, stand up against bullying, stand up for everyones right to exist without fear.
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