I’m often amazed at how quickly and what types of things go viral these days. Several of my friends posted a video of a bully getting his on Facebook last week.
As usual, when I saw multiple people I respect posting links to the same thing, I took the bate and checked it out. Less because I’m interested in bullying (though I am, as one who is dedicated to working with youth), and more because I am fascinated by culture – especially the recent cultural phenomenon of viral videos. I confess I watch reality TV and I like it. I like it for the same reasons I’m intrigued by viral videos. It’s like people-watching without the work of going out and finding the people. I watch not because I’m particularly interested in fashion design or survival skills, but because I’m interested in the sociological experiment. I evaluate what it says about our culture, what we value, how we relate to one another, etc. Maybe it is because I’m not in school right now and I’m surrounded by people who are (high schoolers at my local church, co-workers, and my soon to be master wife) that I unconsciously search for learning opportunities or try to make what I am doing into a learning opportunity. Or maybe it’s because God made me this way. Either way, I enjoy it and now I’m passing some of that enjoyment on to you.
Now back to the topic at hand, bullying. Lately it’s been quite the buzz word. Here are two things that provoked further thought in this video response to the viral bullying video, which originally aired on an Australian news broadcast. First was the depth of pain experienced by the bullied. During adolescence, peers have an enormous impact on us. The consistent bullying Casey faced at school caused him to contemplate suicide. The second and most important thing I learned from the video is that the adult population is unaware of the severity of this struggle because adolescents do not allow them to enter into it. Casey’s father, who gives off the impression that he is a loving father involved in his son’s life, comments that he had no idea Casey was going through this at school. That sucks. Casey was considering taking his life over an issue his father who cares deeply about him knew nothing about.
How do we bridge that gap? How do we get youth/adolescents to allow adults to enter into their struggles with them? Those aren’t rhetorical, I’m honestly asking. I know its precious when adolescents do open up, and we should never waste the opportunity. I also encourage youth workers to think back through the internal struggles they went through when interacting with youth and think about what they needed to hear at that time, because as adults I think we usually try to fix circumstances when it is usually about deeper identity issues. Honestly though, most of what I would encourage youth workers to do is what I assume Casey’s father did.
This viral video allowed the world to enter into the internal struggles Casey faces due to constant bullying. How do we as adult Christians with a desire to minister to youth effectively extend God’s grace to a generation seemingly unwilling to tell even those they are in close relationship with about their biggest problems? I honestly do not have a great answer. I’ll continue searching though, and I’ll continue doing the above – loving on youth and creating a safe place for them to open up when or if they are ready.
I guess in summary, the Casey Heynes body slam seen around the world reminded me of the isolation adolescents experience while making life’s most important decisions and encouraged me to continue laboring in an attempt to help equip the Church to meet the needs of youth.
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