Silent Voices: I was one

​I used to be one, you know: the bullied, the bystander the silent voice. 

Never with students though. With them, I am the epitome of activism. I stand up with students, and my children. I remind them the about the difference between 'tattling' and 'reporting', I help them work up the courage to speak up even if they were not the bullied. I also teach them that while the bully does need help, they are not to sacrifice their peace of mind and their shining selves to this cause. Others will step in and help.

With myself though, it was another story. Ignore it and it will go away. 

Until I realised that I had to do something to speak up for myself and others who are thus marginalised. In the 'expert' world we live in, where social capital drives many journeys, it is so easy to blend into the shadows for fear of ridicule. 

When the whispers and the insinuations become loud only to ones ears, when people one seeks help from make excuses on behalf of the aggressors, when one is labelled as 'too touchy, too sensitive, too thin-skinned"... the voices are silenced, marginalised, minoritized. I was one such person.

It took the voice of one young person at Quest 2011 to remind me that 'somebody cares'. I just to find that person. I started with me and went forward from there.

And since then, I speak. I speak often, I speak to understand. I am waiting for things to change, but I know, as do others, that I am not silent any more. And I am not alone, others are speaking too:softly, surely.

The secret: keep the discussions issue based. 

Resource allocation,
role clarification,
who is at the centre,
who is at the margins,
why?

This helps me use my White Hat at all times. 

Unless we do something with policy, and guidelines, brochures, classrooms and beautiful words painted into murals, they remain just that: just words.

I was reminded by a Guru on November 1st, 2011 at Parkland Public School that courageous conversations must happen. I was also reminded at Quest 2011 that "Equity work is hard work". And the Mahatma said: Be the change. So I will.

If I don't tell this story, who will?