Be The Difference

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Highest on the list of things that piss me off this week (beyond the Tayvon Martin case, the Supreme Court debating and deciding health care, the usual political ineptitude in Washington and points elsewhere, and Dick Cheney getting a new heart) is the new film: BULLY.  This is the movie that is part of the Bully Project which is being distributed as an unrated film by the Weinstein Company because the MPAA decided it deserved an R rating due to its strong language and violence.  Specifically – the word “FUCK”.  The Hunger Games (which is no doubt a good movie and made $155 million at the box office last weekend) gets a PG-13 rating even though the premise has to do with kids killing kids in a futuristic sci-fi world.  Bully gets an R because the film’s content deals with real violence between real kids in the real world.  And because of several instances of bad language - specifically that world “FUCK”.  Seriously?  What the fuck?  Walk through any high school or hang out at the mall for thirty minutes and listen to kids – the word is so over-used so often that it has lost its shock value.

This is a film every kid over 13 should see.  As well as every parent who has a kid over thirteen or might some day have a kid who will be over thirteen.  This is a film meant to inspire advocacy, engage conversation and solutions, and empower people who are bullied (AND their families AND people who too often stand by and do nothing).  Hunger Games will inspire sequels and rip-offs and knock-offs.

On a completely different note, I believe that friendships are one of the most important things we carry with us.  Having spent the past few days re-connecting with old friends and high school classmates, I believe that although time might erode memories, the strength of those friendships endures no matter how many years pass. Even though the fast cars have given way to sedans and mini-vans, and running around all night has evolved into watching our kids and grand kids running around soccer fields, it doesn’t take much to flash back to the familiar joys and pains of high school.  And know that inside there’s still a part of each of us that misses those days….at least sometimes….