I
f you could break a world record just by drawing a picture, would you?
Even better…if you could break a world record to promote anti-bullying, would you? Would your child?
Justin Spencer, the founder of the performance group, Recycled Percussion, and the community outreach group, Legacy X, has invited children and students to participate in the world’s largest anti-bullying project, and the stakes are simple. Write your name. Tell your story.
The trademark symbol of Legacy X is the red X. Dedicated fans have had the X tattooed on their bodies, spray painted on their office walls, dyed into their hair, and shared as various art projects with their schools. To celebrate this major anti-bullying effort, Justin and the team have created an event that launches worldwide on March 22nd.
Below are pictures of Justin and a write up of the Bully X event. Through our networks, we have gathered submissions from over 500 students, which immediately made us set the bar at 1000 students. If we break that, you won’t hear us complain.
Here’s how it works.
Each student takes a piece of red paper, a simple piece of 8.5” x 11” construction paper works perfectly. The student takes that paper and writes their first name, where they live, and then writes or draws their personal anti-bullying message. Sounds like a small contribution, but the desert is made up single grains of sand, and the ocean is made up of drops of water. That’s the idea behind BullyX.
Each student can write their own message, and those messages on simple red sheets of paper are going out to Legacy X headquarters in Nevada. In March, those small, simple messages are going to chain together in a show of dedication and resolve, and those small, simple messages together are going to form a display that no one on Earth has ever seen before.
On March 22nd, those letters will come together to form the largest red X, and the largest anti-bullying messages ever compiled.
This has already been an incredible learning experience for the folks putting this together. If you’re curious but not sure about this project, feel free to visit http://www.facebook.com/onelifeonelegacy to hear some of the stories from the field. Justin himself has been left slack-jawed when speaking at a school at a school assembly (more than once). I was amazed at the efforts and creativity that our students put forth. I know you will be, too.
Do the children in your life understand what bullying is? Ask them. Get them to share what they think bullying really is. Do they know that bullying requires a bully, a victim, and an audience? Do they know who they can contact when they feel that they have been bullied or have witnessed bullying? Are they afraid to reach out?
If we’ve fallen short as parents, teachers, and educators in the community on any of these fronts, then we need to review our own mission, and our own skills. We need to make it easy and encouraging for the next generation to stand up to bullying, in person and online.
The first step might just be a simple message on a piece of paper. If that breaks a world record in the process, let’s celebrate together. Got questions about the BullyX project? Don’t hesitate to reach out. This represents a wonderful opportunity to create a shared voice to stop bullying, and for children to be a part of something much bigger than their own story.
One love,
nK
