Together We Can Be a Sign of Hope

Posted: 1/30/2019

When Jacob Law’s mom, Tina, heard that he wanted to get involved with Unity Day, she thought all she was going to do was buy him a t-shirt. But Jacob had a much bigger plan in mind. Jacob gathered a group of students at his high school in Delaware (Joe, Shannon, Cathryne, Vanessa, Delvin, and Steven) who were all passionate about bullying prevention and set about creating a community-wide Unity Day event. Soon the whole town was involved. From petitioning his school to allow the event to making ribbons to hand out at a football game to inviting local businesses to participate, Jacob’s efforts on Unity Day were truly inspirational. When Jacob delivered a speech after receiving a proclamation from the mayor declaring October 9th Unity Day for the entire city, he demonstrated the true spirit of Unity Day – bringing people together to end bullying.

As part of his speech, Jacob said:

Not too long ago, there was a day when I was walking down the hall and some kids grabbed my backpack and threw me to the ground. One of my teachers was there for me that day.

I bet if you asked her, she would tell you she made sure I was okay and spent a few minutes talking with me about what happened.

But my story is a little different. Yes, she did do those things but she also did something much greater… she showed me what it felt like to have someone stand up for you. She showed me what a difference it makes to not feel alone, and she showed me the kind of person I wanted to be.

Bullying effects kids across our nation every day. Kids are afraid to go to school, participate in clubs or activities and may not even want to leave their home.

I believe that together we can lead the movement against bullying and it begins with each and every one of us standing up and showing our support on October 9th, proudly by wearing orange.

Together we can be a sign of hope and victims will know they are not alone.

Just as my teacher stood up for me that day, I will stand up for each and every one of them.