Anti-Bullying Flash Mob Becomes Viral Hit

On January 27th, 300 students from David Lloyd George Elementary and Churchill Secondary schools, in Vancouver, British Columbia, came together to spread a message of acceptance.  They met at the Oakridge Centre, a local mall in Vancouver, and, with the help of some teachers and a choreographer, put together a performance that has been seen nearly 140,000 times in the last week.  Take a look:



Why the pink shirts? In Canada, the last Wednesday in February is Anti-Bullying Day, also known as "Pink Shirt Day".  It was started in 2008 in Nova Scotia, after a student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.  It was then adopted nationwide the following year.

Remember, bullying can be toward many demographics.  There was a lot of media attention recently about gay and lesbian kids that took their lives due to constant bullying for others at school.  What you don't hear on the news are the stories of the young men and women that take their lives because they're endlessly ridiculed for being overweight or looking different than everyone else.  Bullying is bullying, regardless or the reason why, it's unacceptable.

It wasn't until after seeing this video a couple of times that I realized it, but Bruno Mars' 'Just The Way You Are' is a very affirming body positive/fat positive song that is on the radio currently.  He doesn't mention any specifics about his significant other's body or facial features, but reassures her that those things she sees as flaws are, in fact, perfect.  It's ironic, though, that the video has him singing the song to a woman that is practically a supermodel.  What a good song, but what a bad example to set.