Earlier this month, Ottawa high school student Jamie Hubley committed suicide at age 15. His story — a young gay person taking his own life because of bullying — is one that’s heard all too often.
As a result, American author and journalist Dan Savage created “It Gets Better.” The online campaign features celebrity-made videos encouraging gay youth to stay strong while being bullied, and to remember that the hellish atmosphere of high school doesn’t last forever.
Although “It Gets Better” is a positive campaign, the unfortunate reality is that it’s nearly impossible for high school students to imagine life after graduation. To a high school student, especially one facing bullies in the halls every day, four years sounds like a century.
Take Hubley’s heartbreaking blog posts, for example.
“I don’t want to wait three more years,” he wrote. “This hurts too much. How do you even know it will get better? It’s not.”
Asking a bullied teenager to wait four years for things to improve is asking a lot.
As unfortunate as it may be, homophobia, racism, sexism, and other types of discrimination that fuel bullying will never completely disappear.
Instead, school boards need to focus on enforcing stricter anti-bullying policies. School staff must monitor bullying more carefully, take complaints from students more seriously, and get tougher when it comes to enforcing the rules. Students like Hubley shouldn’t have to wait until after high school to be happy.
It’s time for things to get better now — before it’s too late.