By: Darcie Thom

At some point in time, every person is afflicted by the torment of a bully, whether it by a friend, family member, fellow student or a stranger on the street.

BullyingCanada.ca is the first Youth Created Anti-bullying Website in Canada initially created by Robert Frenette of Bathurst, N.B. and Katie Neu of Listowel, ON.

Frenette and Neu, both former victims of bullying have been petitioning across Canada to designate December 17th as ‘Blue Day’ as an annual awareness day. The founders and volunteers of the Website, along with the support of the band “The Road Hammers”, have been in contact with Prime Minister Stephen Harper through a letter of concern requesting that he approve ‘Blue Day’ as a national awareness day.

In previous generations, bullying was simply that. It wasn’t right in any way, but it was something that occurred in similar ways. In this generation, there are different degrees of bullying, one being titled ‘Relational Aggression’, a new term used in reference to behaviors that are intended to place harm on the friendships and peer groups that an individual may be included in.

Relational Aggression is the fabricator of hostile social environments in school and work settings that have the ability to affect ones drive to learn and grow.

The best treatment or attempt to cure this aggression is to encourage individuals to be loyal and empathetic of a person who may be a victim of the aggression, hate and abuse involved in bullying, rather than supporting the inappropriate behavior.

Like any other awareness day challenge, ‘Blue Day’ challenges every individual to help put a stop to bullies and their hateful behavior. It’s no big surprise that the choice of ribbon color will be blue and that people will be expected to wear blue to show their support for this awareness day.

However, will this really put an end to bullying, to unnecessary acts of violence? Will the color blue ward off any potential bullies and make a victim feel safe again? Highly unlikely! A person who is the victim of the verbal, physical and mental abuse by their peers will most likely avoid wearing the blue hue, along with the bracelets and ribbons that support the cause, which could cause them to be more of a target than usual.

While the cause is most definitely a worthy cause, there has to be another, more effective way to deal with these daily problems in an individual’s life. A designated awareness day will shine some light on the perspectives of others and hopefully will have everyone working together to finally put a stop to bullying.

A bully will not stop the harassment because a person is wearing a certain color, ribbon or bracelet. A bully will stop their behavior when the law is put in place, whether it be by a friend, family member, fellow peers or the Men in Blue.