Ouf, mon homme...
So it would have to take a really bad cold to make me miss two and a half days of work and catch up on my blog...which I haven`t been taking care of due to work, volunteering, and spending time with my friends.
The past few days have been wheeze-fest 2011. I haven`t been this sick since I was a kid, and it takes a lot for me to miss work. I am on new meds for the next two weeks, and hopefully, I will be back to normal...tomorrow? :(
While I was sick, I was browsing facebook, and came across some sad news. Back home, a girl named Marjorie Raymond took her own life this past Monday. She was fifteen years old and, apparently, the victim of years of bullying and intimidation. It was so bad that she ended up failing Sec II (grade 8) because she didn't go to her courses, and sometimes missed days of school. Harassed online and in school, she confided in her mother over and over again 'I can't do this anymore.'
Her mother promised to send her to adult education when she turned sixteen, but Marjorie took her life long before that. One of my friends had posted in her facebook pictures a screenshot of a post made by one of her tormentors that sickened me down to the core. This same tormentor apparently used to physically fight her on a nearly weekly basis.
What truly frustrates me is that her mother met with the principal of the school on numerous occasions and, unfortunately, they did not take her plight seriously. She had moved to the Gaspesie from Granby about three years ago, and her integration had been more than simply difficult. Her mother spoke to the principal on several occasions.
I do think about poor Marjorie, and her grieving family but I'm also thinking about the students that were aggressive towards her. Did they know how far they were taking it? Did they really realize that what they were doing was hurting her so badly that she would miss school and flunk a year? I'm sure they didn't, but what type of lives are they living where they think that behavior like this is acceptable? I also think about them, and wonder what role-models do they have in their lives that would promote this behavior. I'm not excusing them, but I do pity them for not having sensible roots or someone to shake them by the shoulders to wake them up.
Is there anyone else fed up of the Mean Girls behavior? Why is it that most women I meet consider themselves feminists (or 'equalists', some people are scared of that F-word) and yet have trouble keeping friends that are girls? Is there anyone else that agree that talking behind someone else's back is a cowardly and hollow way of feeling better about someone else?
Is there anyone else afraid to have a daughter that will grow up in an environment like this?
Also, were there not other students that noticed? Did nobody ever talk to the principal and say 'I'm worried about Marjorie.'? Why did nobody else step in? What were they afraid of? How much did they enjoy seeing her victimized with the relief of 'It's not me'? Where did all the Good Samaritans go?
Sleep well, Marjorie
You are missed more than you know
