An Inspirational Video About a Brave Boy Standing Up Against Bullying

Bullying sucks, but the video about this courageous young man's attempt to change things does not.



This video provoked some water to come scurrying out of my face, and some may even say caused tears.  It was heartbreaking to hear what this poor boy had to endure just because a few insecure jerks deemed him different.  It was also exhilarating to see him make a major stand and try to represent all the other kids bullied at his school.  It can take a lot of guts for an adult to make a speech in front of a board, so it is doubly impressive how brave Caine Smith was for presenting serious facts in front a group of scary looking adults.

I've mentioned on here before that I was bullied as a kid.  It wasn't to the point that Caine has been abused though.  I was definitely lucky enough to have real close friends to be a support during those shitty times.  But I suffered enough to know it is a serious problem and it affects your outlook on life and sticks with you for your entire life.  I haven't been able to erase the tormentors from my mind and those rough periods still occasionally flash before me.  In some ways it is good that I haven't forgotten, because it reminds me how awful it was and how important an issue it is.

Bullying has always existed.  I'm not sure if it has gotten worse.  It has become something society is finally becoming aware of.  Unfortunately, it is something that also now has new mediums to be perpetuated on like the internet, where these spineless asshats now have the chance to be anonymous cretins.  But I am not here to argue if it has gotten worse than my time, because that isn't the point.  It's awful.  It causes massive damage to children's self-esteem.  It needs to end.

Maybe we'll start to see real change with the help from a brave little champion like Caine Smith. 

Edit: I forgot to give credit to The Bully Project, which is a site not only doing a great thing, but also the original  location for this video.