Bullying: When Nasty Words Can Kill

Last Thursday, Haverhill Elementary in Portage, Michigan, hosted a Children’s Science Fair. Students created colorful boards to display photos along with their stated Purpose; Hypothesis; Materials Used; Procedure; Variables and Conclusion.

Student projects ranged in topic from ‘which liquid will preserve a cucumber the best’ to ‘the effects words have on rice’. Yes, you read that correctly. That’s the same thing that I thought. What does that mean? So I paused to read this particular board again, as I thought for sure I’d read it incorrectly. But to my surprise, this was actually a valid experiment in which the question was posed ‘what did the power of words have on rice?’ At first, I didn't quite understand what the experiment was all about...but as I read on, things became all too clear to me.

This experiment involved simple white rice which was cooked and divided equally amongst 6 clean baby food jars. 2 jars were simply set aside. The remaining 4 jars, had messages which were taped on, in order that the words faced the rice. On the 1st note, were the words "I Love You". On the 2nd note, "I Believe in you and have Faith in you". On the 3rd note, "I Hate You". And, on the final note, "You are Sad and Disgusting and will Never amount to anything". These jars were set aside for a few weeks and closely observed. Do you know that the rice with the nasty words rotted and turned moldy and green? The rice that had no words deteriorated at a moderate level. The rice with the kind and loving words showed nearly no deterioration at all. So what did this experiment really show? More than I can ever relay, I’m afraid.

On Dec 4, 2005, my 15 year old daughter Kristina Calco, committed suicide after being bullied in school on an ongoing basis for at least 2 1/2 years. Kristina was picked on by a group of boys who called her 'ugly and nasty' every day. Her friends say that Kristina cried in the cafeteria or the bathroom every day. They thought that they were doing the right thing by consoling her. These young ladies were not properly instructed on what constituted bullying and they did not feel comfortable in non-anonymous reporting.

On March 21st, Governor Jennifer Granholm spoke again at the Capitol on Michigan’s proposed Anti-Bullying Law. If passed, Michigan Law would require local school districts to set up anti-bullying policies that include teacher training, a clear definition of harassment/bullying, channels for reporting bullying and hazing incidents, a response plan and penalties for violators. A Safe Schools Advocacy Day is planned for Tues., March 28, 2006 from 9 to 5 at the Capitol in Lansing, in Room 424. Participants are encouraged to visit legislative offices to show support for HB 5616 and SB 1156.

So let’s go back to the rice experiment and the effect that words have on rice. All I can think of are the children, like my daughter, who have been and are still being bullied and tormented in our schools right now and what has been and is currently happening to them. Can you imagine if negative words can turn a jar of pure white rice moldy and green, what those same words can do to an innocent child?

It is estimated that approximately 90% of all suicides are a direct result of depression. Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Bullying can be thought of as a depression trigger....“anything that happens physically or emotionally that can cause an imbalance within the normal brain function.”

We need to recognize that children do indeed kill themselves. We’ve had one in our community already, and that was my daughter. I’m sure that many would agree that that was one too many. I’d like to help you help yourselves see to it that this never happens again. SUICIDE IS PREVENTABLE. We as a society just need to open our eyes to what is going on around us every day. Who would have thought a baby food jar filled with white rice could rot just because it had some nasty words taped to it. Now you know.