***All proceeds from the sale of this song will be donated to PFLAG***
Evan Brubaker and I have been working on a cover record for a few months. One of the first songs we recorded back in June was this one: "Everybody Hurts", by REM.
As we have been mixing and mastering all of the songs, we decided Wonderwall should go out first, (we released it two weeks ago), and then I heard "Everybody Hurts", and decided to put that out next.
When I started hearing about the rash of children killing themselves because they were perceived as being gay, and tormented to the point of self destruction...I couldn't stay quiet.
Please share this story with anyone you think needs to hear it. A child, a parent...it can be a starting point for a conversation with your own kids.
I wish someone would have told me this when I was a kid, having the crap beaten out of me at school, being called every name in the book because I was "different".
I wrote an account of my own battle with bullies called, "It Gets Better, Because it Can't Get Worse".
You can read the story, and download a free demo of the song on my Itunes Podcast, "The Process":
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/holly-figueroa-oreilly-the/id391879688
***
Things you can do (most of them without getting off of your couch):
If you were bullied in school, tell your story. Tell it in your blog, on your FB, in a video posted to Youtube...anywhere someone who is going through what
you went through can see...they aren't the only one.
If you were a bully in school, don't raise your children to be like you. The truth is, you were hurting, too, and that's why you were a bully. If you were just a jerk, don't
raise your kids to be jerks.
If you weren't a bully in school, but your kid is, get them help. They are hurting, and they need someone to talk to about it.
If you are a kid in school, and you see someone being bullied, do something. Anything. Tell an adult, and if they don't do anything, tell another adult. Keep telling until someone does something.
Then, tell that kid who was being bullied that you have their back. And mean it. It will be the bravest act you will do in your life. You could save a life.
If you are a parent of a school age child, talk to them about bullying. Really talk. Tell them the above statement.
If you are a teacher or administrator in a school, push the adoption of a "zero tolerance" for bullying rule. And follow through.
(Yes. It actually happens. Here is a school that does a great job with this: http://www.bainbridge.wednet.edu/blakely/blakely3rs.html#bullying )
If you are a teacher or administrator who has tolerated or encouraged bullying, take a long, hard look in the mirror, and think about whether or not you are in the right profession.
If you decide that you are in the right profession, then you need to stop tolerating and encouraging these heinous acts. Now.
Children are dying by their own hand from something that is wholly preventable.
The kid your son played with in 2nd grade. The kid who mows your lawn. The kid who rides his bike to school to avoid the bus. The kid who always looks sad walking by your house.
Your Own Child. And maybe you don't even know they are thinking about it.
Maybe they don't think you will accept them the way they are. Let them know you will.
Enough. Is. Enough.
Love to you all,
Holly
http://www.hollyoreilly.com
(BTW, this song is just me, playing my beloved Luna "Steel Magnolia", singing with Aaron English, who so graciously agreed to sing some of the song with me. We loved how it came out, and decided it was perfect the way it was...kind of like the kids are. Perfect the way they are.)
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