All-caps KIA makes it look like Killed in Action to me for some reason. Irrespective of that, congrats to Lillard! Ed O.
Good and all, but I really don't care that much about this anti-bulling stuff. Rasheed Wallace did much more actual good with all his coat drives, but for some reason that's less sexy than being in an advertisement saying "respect".
If I were a kid, I'd be bothered more by an ass-kicking than I would be about getting cold. You can count up coats and point to it as a tangible success. It's impossible to measure whether the Lillard campaign really did any good. But when you see how much money companies throw at these athletes, and when you see kids line up for autographs, and you see how popular the summer camps are, it seems like a pretty safe speculation that he did some good. Kids pay attention to what these guys say and do. I was always in the Charles Barkley school of "sports stars aren't role models" camp. It should be up to parents. But having been a parent and seen it from the kids' perspective more and more, I'm coming around.
You have some good points, but I guess i just don't know if this type of message gets to the bullies. I mean I really don't know. I know that in LA, on the back of buses some have stickers that say "Stop Senior Abuse". It's a good message, but I really doubt anybody who abuses seniors reads a sticker on the back of a bus and decides that he'll stop hitting grandpa. Perhaps with kids, a sports star is what it takes to reach some of these bullies, and if so, then I do take back my earlier post, this might be an important action to take. I really just don't know. And I was bullied quite a lot in the fifth grade. It was bad enough that my parents decided to send me to a private schooll to get me away from the bullies. Of course, I was so pissed that this was happening because I was being picked on, that I vowed not to be picked on again, and instead turned into a bully (well, kind of a bully, I would fight people who I thought were bullies, when in truth, they were just young.). Only for a short time, then got centered. Mid-way through the 7th grade I made a decision to never fight and have not thrown a punch since. Even years later as a bouncer, I was the only bouncer who never got in a fight, I would just talk people down.) Rambling. Sorry folks
It's not the bullies. It's the enablers. I just read this story. And I asked WHY did everyone in authority, everyone with influence, contribute to this girl's death? Why did they excuse/glorify rape and abuse? Bullies would not be bullies if they did not get the message it's OK, maybe admirable, to abuse some people. Because of their size, color, sexual orientation, accent, or because they were victims of a violent crime. Damian is saying it's not OK. More power to him.
