Accepting diversity

On one of the lessons, we were shown a video of bullying. There were some things that weren’t right, though.  On this video, all of the people were gay (or if straight, afraid to show it). Another thing was that at the school, boys were learning theater, girls playing football. 

The video started with the girl explaining that she realized she was different already when she was really young. The difference was that she liked boys instead of girls. One day, when playing with her friends and suggesting they would play home, with her and her friend (which was a boy) playing the parents, all of her playmates called her strange and left her playing alone. After this, she was being bullied at school, people yelling at her that she liked boys etc. When she was caught kissing a boy she liked, the girls from her school started chasing her, calling her names, gathering people to help them chase her and when she was finally caught, all the students started to physically assault her. After all this she returned home, where were her parents, asking what happened and who did this to her. Unable to answer, she was sent upstairs to clean her face. She received no support from her parents; they only suggested her moving schools.

In the next scene, she was trying to get rid of the writing on her forehead, which said “hetero”. She tried and tried to erase it, but it only got smudgy. The girl was crying. She prepared a bath, took a razor in her hand and started cutting her wrist. Little by little, the blood was dropping in the bathwater.

We don’t know if she died. The video ends with the girl’s parents trying to get into the bathroom shouting her name, with another scene flashing, where the amount of blood is growing and growing in the bathtub. After this, there was a question, which was also the title of the short movie: “Is love all we need?”

This short movie made us think about all the differences we are facing in the modern world. The fact is that we are all different, no matter the race, sexuality, looks etc. No matter how we look on it: although we are all the same, we are all different. All unique. And that is something we should appreciate. This is also something we should transmit and teach to our students. Our values reflect in our teaching, and this is what the students will learn as well. We should acknowledge which values we have.

Love might not be ALL we need, but it’s something essential. We need someone to tell us you are accepted just the way you are, and you have the right to be different from the others. If even one person is ready to fight against the common flow, it might make a difference. It might get people thinking. This leads us to the final question: What kind of values are you teaching the children - the future - and what kind of consequences might there be?