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That’s how Jane Macdonald, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher at West Salem Elementary School, described a talk on bullying given by Jim Jelinske last week. Over the course of two days, Jelinske gave presentations to parents and to kids all the way from kindergarten on up to high school seniors.
For the younger kids, Jelinske used his skills as a magician to help hold their interest. His talks to older kids interspersed the deadly serious topic of real-life kids damaged by bullying with goofy humor that entranced the most jaded listeners.
“I liked the fact that he was able to portray his own experiences,” said Middle School Principal Dean Buchanan. “When someone has that much passion and compassion, kids can tell he’s not just some blowhard.”
During the course of his talks, Jelinske showed the students pictures of a 12-year-old boy named Brian and a “Goth” girl named Sarah. Sarah was shoved down some stairs because she was different and is now a quadraplegic.
Jelinske told how Brian, who had learning and speaking difficulties was teased relentlessly at school. Brian had gone to his guidance counselor’s office and begged to be allowed to just stay there. “I just can’t take it any more,” Brian said.
The counselor encouraged Brian to go back out on the playground, but when he did, he was knocked to the ground and bullied once again. Unable to stand it anymore, Brian ran away from the school. But he ran into the street between two parked cars and was hit by another car and killed.
In both Brian and Sarah’s cases those responsible for the bullying were asked why they did it. In each case they said: “We didn’t mean it — we were just kidding.”
And when those who had stood around and watched were asked why they did nothing they said: “We didn’t want to get involved.” Jelinske made it clear those were not acceptable responses.
He ended his talk on a poignant but powerful note. As some music played, he said: “Brian liked music and this was one of his favorite songs. I also have something I didn’t tell you before: I was the counselor who told him to go back out onto the playground — I think about Brian every single day.”
Jelinske then exhorted his audience not to let what happened to Sarah and Brian happen in their school. “Don’t let this happen in your school without saying ‘Stop!’ Be a superhero. Today’s the day to stand up and make a difference in someone’s life,” he shouted.
“It was a great way to start the school year,” Buchanan said. “We’re trying to keep awareness of bullying front and center and this really helps. There are some kids who have no friends at all and that just shouldn’t happen.”
Buchanan said that maybe 15 percent of kids are bullies or are bullied. “The other 85 percent are usually just bystanders. What we’re trying to do is create a positive, proactive environment where kids can say ‘We do not tolerate that here.’ ”
Buchanan said parents entrust their kids to the schools and they should not be ridiculed or demeaned there. The school is doing a number of things to keep the bullying issue foremost in kid’s minds.
“The biggest thing we’ve learned is to keep awareness front and center. When we create that awareness the incidences of bullying decrease, but it will eventually increase again if you don’t stay on top of it,” Buchanan said.
The aim of the school’s recently instituted IMPACT program is to keep bullying awareness alive so that no West Salem kids will have to suffer the fate of Brian or Sarah.
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