Keaton's Bully Plea
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Keaton Jones will be a household name by this week if you haven't already heard of him. Keaton was the kid that had his mom take a video of his message to kids being bullied and the ones bullying. The video went viral.

I've been an advocate for helping victims of abuse for over 10 years now and these messages sting. I witnessed it in the worst way during our annual child abuse prevention (Live for 175) in April. This was the first time I felt defeat at the beginning of such a large event. A high school student took his own life and his friends showed up in tears. I think back to all the teens I've met over the years that suffered from bullying and wish I could find them to see how things turned out years later.

I remember being bullied in junior high and that 6th, 7th, and 8th grade seemed like the worst. Why? EVERYTHING! You start becoming someone and your emotions are in that transition phase of figuring out life. You are so vulnerable at this age. Everything matters.

I'm sitting in the studio typing this and I received an email. This just happened.

Debra from Billings Montana called to request that 103.5 Kiss play a song with the lyrics “I wanna live”. She said she was suicidal two weeks ago and this song got her through."

This happens all the time and we got to see the effects of bullying including reactions over the weekend. Keaton Jones is a teen that's been bullied to the point he needed his mom to pick him up from school. Keaton was afraid to tears that somehow found the strength to make a video plea about bullying. He asked his mom to record this because he was too afraid to go to lunch.

That's what Dana White (UFC President/Founder) retweeted on Sunday. That was just the beginning and there have been over 20 million views of the video and celebrity support like I haven't seen before. Check out how the Tennessee Titans came to his defense and everyone being bullying.

For all the negative press athletes get - you rarely hear about the greatness they do.

That was just the beginning for this Knoxville teen. When I say the beginning...

Keaton got a very high profile date request

Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and the list go on. What does this do for this kid? Well, it might just save his life. This is just one kid, but everyone has a Keaton in their class. This behavior goes far beyond the classroom. It happens at home and in the workplace. It's abuse. I think most of take these abusive events and use them as motivation. This is why you see so many celebrities coming out in support because so many of us were bullied. Keaton will be just fine now. I'm worried about the kids who are going through this right now. I spoke with a mom this morning who had her child in the car on speaker phone and reacted with, "I guess I should talk to him about it."

Don't assume it will work it's way out or someone else will help. This is a real epidemic and it's imperative that we act today. Tomorrow could be too late for some of these teens. I've listed a few programs and numbers to call if you know someone or want to speak about it.

 

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