By now, most people have heard the meaning of hashtag “Me Too” and most women and some men have lived the experience of being harassed in the workplace by those in authority.  Just belonging to the movement has given strength and empowerment rather than the meaning of victimized.  The awareness may lead to less situations of it happening or being tolerated by our society as a whole.

There is another movement that needs the same attention and needs its own hashtag; the experience of being bullied and the best way to respond to it.  We need a hashtag that can project strength for those experiencing it in the moment, for the instant recognition of just what it is.  If you are being singled out and bullied, what word or phrase would empower you?  I look back at the times it happened to me and my response was to lower my eyes and silently cry.  The wound to my soul was great with lasting scars.

The wounds are personal and they are deep and they hurt the character of both the giver as well as the receiver.  If I could have lifted my eyes and reflected my feelings with strength, maybe the situation would have changed for us both.  We need a word or phrase that can instantly call out the action for what it is.

Perhaps “#StompOut”

If you feel it, say it and feel the empowerment of it.  The more of it that happens, the louder you should be until it can no longer be ignored.  If you are the one they say it to, stop and think about what you just said and maybe you will understand the impact of the words you project.  You need to change that or bully will define your character.

Let’s make this a movement that can “Stomp Out” the harmful effects of bullying.

Written with the help of my granddaughter Natalie Small

At one point, students bringing cell phones to school was a concern in the forefront.  How innocent a problem it was.  It is no longer a distraction but an essential safety tool.  The stress level of students, faculty, and parents is at an inexcusable high.  School shootings are no longer a rare event and school safety is a top concern.

Parents with varying aged children who attend more than one school building feel the need to arm each of them with a working cell phone with that emergency in mind.  One school sends home a letter stating an empty .22 caliber firearm clip was found in the glove compartment of a school bus, while another has a student who has threatened to bring in a gun sits quietly dressed all in black through the school day and turned out his father’s gun was missing.

How do we get to focus on our own work as parents and how can we expect our students and teachers to concentrate on multiplication and adverbs when that fear crosses their minds?!

In the minds of those who’ve done the deed, there’s an anger there that has exploded and we need to understand the whys.  It’s the only way to stop it or at the very least slow the rate of it happening down.  The weapon, the access, and the full history including medications need to be examined.  It’s not a one answer problem.  Mental health and gun control are only parts of the puzzle.  Other factors do exist.  We need to see them in order to change things.

Make no mistake, this is the biggest on-soil terrorist threat we face at the present time.  For those who do the deed, there should be no privacy.  It should be lost with the horrific act.  Phone, patient and other history needs to be examined.  We may end up finding surprising common factors.

We need answers in order to go back to focusing on the task at hand instead of horrible possibilities.  Until that time comes, parents will arm their children with working cell phones regardless of whether they can afford it or not.

Today is the Super Bowl.  If you’re workplace is like most, you hear the excitement from co-workers whether or not you are a fan.  For those that are not, you are missing out on more than just a sport.  Team pride or team opposition can be a source of unity.  Those willing to be a fan of an opposing team find a source of strength to stand out tend to wear the team’s memorabilia with a smile regardless of the of the fallout.  That gives us all a chance to teach the next generation the true meaning of good sportsmanship and the ability to choose freely who you want to call your favorite team.

If you’re lucky enough to choose the team that crosses the victory line, cinching it in the last quarter and often in the last five minutes of the game, well there is nothing like it!  When you are, even moving across the country doesn’t change your loyalties.  You are a fan for life and now you are proud to be the opposition!   If time finds you later in life becoming a fan, you will look back at the thrill you missed in those workplaces with regret, I promise you.

Many people choose to broaden their horizons by checking out the opera or ballet, just to have the experience and to see if they might like it.   There is another option.  Check out the thrill of a sport.  You might surprise yourself.  Maybe you’ll even end up wearing a jersey of your own for the next Super Bowl.

Not only are we connected world wide through the internet, but so are our businesses both with what we use and what we eat.  Many we take for granted, since they are available almost anywhere such as the toilet paper we use to the cereal and pizza that we eat.  We choose a brand by what we like and not necessarily by how it’s made.  Most of the time we don’t even know.

If we are a loyal customer we assume the company has us valued as much as their profits since without us, they would cease to exist.  Even our regulations such as FDA rules are suppose to be about keeping us safe.  So why is it that some countries ban things that others do not?  Many of us roll our eyes at the phrase “junk food” because most have indulged at one time or another.  But what about things we consume regularly that are labeled dangerous in one place or another?

Parents, you pour your children that bowl of cereal, and even when you choose lower sugar cereals (yay to you), there may be ingredients that are actually banned in other countries for their harmful effects on the body.  BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) which are commonly added to preserve freshness can cause cancer, kidney and liver damage, hair loss, behavioral issues and disrupt appetite and sleep.  They are just two examples of ingredients that are allowed in this country, but banned in most others.  Companies that do business in both, such as Quaker, Ritz, and Pizza Hut, to name a few, have products that are reformulated elsewhere.

Knowing an ingredient in their product is banned in one place, such as lead in paint in the United States, consumers should be able to believe their favorite paint brand would be sure to make it safe for everyone.  After all, the devastating effects of lead paint on children is common knowledge.  However, those same companies still add lead to the paint used in countries that have yet to ban it!  If you are a landlord and use paint on a regular basis, do you know the common practices of your favorite brand?  If you knew they added lead to the paint in different countries just because they could, would you still be loyal to them?  You should look before you ask yourself that question.

Where and how is your favorite toilet paper made?  Is it made by a company with horrible environmental practices and employing people with poverty level pay?  It’s time we actually looked as consumers and demanded companies actually made products based on the good of everyone involved.  We do have that power if we choose to use it.  When people realized food dyes were damaging (even though the FDA doesn’t deem it so), Kraft took food dyes out of our Macaroni and Cheese and proudly stated so in their advertisements.  We have the power.  The more we use it, the better and safer the world will be.