Stop Bullying Now Project, and our association with "The One Hundred"

[MeLisa Turcott Strongheart]

We are members of a group of amazing martial artists called The One Hundred. We are seeking to redefine the role of the Master Teacher in today’s world. We are asking each other, as martial arts teachers to push ourselves in ways that serve as examples of our collective potential.

We believe our “business” is the business of being extraordinary human beings; of using our training for something more than fighting; of bringing authentic mastery to our schools by practicing the martial arts in ways that takes the work out of the dojo and into the world.

In The One Hundred we are asked to take personal responsibility for the cultivation of integrity, purpose, and mission within the international martial arts community. And to make genuine, meaningful, and lifechanging contribution to our students, and to our communities.

To that end, we have joined together to collectively make significant change, not only in our own communities, but in the nation to Stop Bulllying Now. We have worked with so many kids, and adults who come to us to find solutions for the pain, and to end the system of abuse we find due to bullying. This project we have embarked upon has already made such an impact.

That is why I want to share with you one of our teammates blog about about his experience so far with the Stop bullying Now Project:

After doing 11 Stop Bullying Now presentations to about 1000 kids, teens, adults, educators and comm…

• Posted by Peter Liciaga on September 3, 2010 at 12:30pm

• Send Message View Peter Liciaga's blog

After doing 11 Stop Bullying Now presentations to about 1000 kids, teens, adults, educators and community leaders, here is what I’ve learned so far? (the following list is in order of recollection, not importance)

I learned that...

• Bullying is akin to a hidden epidemic!
• It's happening everywhere --Schools, work, community…everywhere. Kids are doing it. Adults are doing it. Bosses are doing it. Employees are doing it. Community leaders are doing it. Teachers are doing it. Martial artist are doing it.
• People don't really talk about it.
• The Columbine attack gave new life to the anti-bullying movement — 38 states now have anti-bullying laws, though experts disagree on whether most states' laws are effective, and only seven require schools to tell parents that their child is being bullied. But, as is the nature of us humans, we got a little complacent.
• We talked about it again in Jan 2010 when South Hadley High School student Phoebe Prince, 15, took her life after she was bullied by other students at her school
• Even in my own experience, I did not bring treatment to bullying until it hit my own home.
• Everyone has a story!
• Everyone wants to share their story!
• Everyone is moved by theirs and other’s stories!
• Everyone wants to do something about bullying!
• There's a lot of information to read, look at and implement when it comes to stopping bullying.
• However, many are not reading, looking or implementing it! Or, at best, doing superficial treatments for short bursts of time.
• Of almost 1000 participants at presentations, 14 of them were black belts ranging from ages 6 yrs old and up. Only one knew how to use their words effectively to stop a bully!
• That the UK and New Zealand have ambitious anti-bullying support and programs.
• That the US has a great resource site for bullying
• Teachers in Germany don’t see bullying as an issue…well at least the couple I spoke to via skype. They believe that it is an “American” issue. However, I am confident that there are teachers in Germany that do not have this opinion.
• 5.7 million Children all over the country are currently involved in the bullying process - either as the one who is being bullied or as the bully.
• That a child that is currently being bullied can do a bullying presentation (Stop Bullying Now) and be perceived as a “hero”. Whether they are eloquent in their presentation or not!

Here’s a story. Alexandra, 9yrs old, did a presentation to almost 80 third and fourth graders. In the audience was a girl that bullied Alexandra in fourth grade (Alexandra is starting fifth grade this year). The former bully right away was blown away to just see that Alexandra was involved in the presentation (her jaw-drop expression gave her away). But when she saw her actually do it, she was awe struck. After the presentation, this girl came up to Alexandra and obviously wanted to connect and be a friend. She definitely saw Alexandra in a very different way. Very cool!

• Self defense training is not complete unless there is a verbal aspect to it.
• Martial arts, more often then not, does not equate to self defense
• Kids love learning from other kids
• Parents are as much interested in the anti-bullying programs, projects and treatments as the children are...and even more so.
• Educators, law enforcement and community leaders are sincerely interested in stopping bullying and they are, like everyone else, ready to share their story.

Here’s a story: After a bully presentation the mayor of a town came up to me and we spent almost an hour discussing bullying. In the conversation he shared his story…I wish I had my flipcam! He also connected me to the townships city manager to start the process of incorporating the program in a abuse prevention grant. (more to come about that! J)

• Children as young as 3 yrs old have stories to share and want to be involved in the anti-bullying campaign too
• All our students that are training in martial arts have more conviction, passion and purpose now that the conversation of bullying is “out in the open”
• with all that is being done, I am still hardpressed to inspire more than a handful of people to engage in the anti-bullying campaign beyond a conversation.
• My expectation should be to improve myself so that i could better serve my community
• I should always keep my eyes open for just one more person to help in this campaign
• My value as a "karate" teacher has increased exponentially because of the treatment I give to bullying
• I have learned more in the last 6 months then I have in the last 6 years
• It's only the beginning...