On Bullying

In short--raise young Narnians, not bystanders:

There has been lots of press lately about young people taking their own lives when they were bullied to the point of no return. If they weren't physically assaulted, then they were attacked verbally. I'm left with a question to parents of children everywhere: Where are the Christian kids who aren't afraid to back up the bullied kids? Who aren't afraid to befriend them? Who actively rally around them and protect them?

Obviously, it takes fortitude to go against the mainstream, especially in the peer-pressure-cooker pack of the school-age set, both public and private. Sometimes, it takes young men with the mindset of Billy Jack to police the halls of the world and keep the peace. Thankfully, there are Warrior Saints I can share with my children too.

We have to teach our children this fortitude, along with the rest of the Cardinal virtues of justice, temperence, and prudence. These complement and put into action the Theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Teaching our children only the latter (the Theological virtues), while neglecting the former, will leave them ill-equipped to be good Catholic Christians in our world today.

We are called to love, and to pray for peace. But we are not to turn our backs on injustice, or flee from standing up for what is right, or run away from defending the weak.

I pray that my children, and yours, will do the right thing: love and protect all of their peers—the popular, the average, and the unpopular. And that they be fully Catholic and virtuous in this life. Amen...