Paul's Predicament

        Paul Sanderson sat, reading the last article in the paper before he went to bed. Light and glasses on, he enjoyed the comfort of his soft mattress and warm sheets, as the article seemed to lull him to sleep.

        Janet, his wife, had just come back from her Wednesday jog and was freshening up before bed. “Did you notice I came home a little later then usual?” Janet yelled, from the bathroom.

“Hmm?” Paul’s answer was half hearted; he had heard what she had said. However, he was on the last paragraph of his article and didn’t want to refocus his attention.

“Did you notice,” Janet walked into the room, “that I was later then usual?” she repeated.

Paul, realized he was going to have to respond. Only moving his eyes, he glanced over the newspaper. Janet wondered over to the side of the bed, grooming and ruffling her hair with her hands. When she reached the bed, she opened up the sheets, still using one hand as a comb. Paul, set down his unfinished newspaper, folded it and responded, “I hadn’t noticed. Something exciting happen?”

“No. It was horrible.” Janet crossed her arms and slumped into her pillow “I’m never doing it again.” she spat. Paul knew that Janet was over reacting. Rolling his eyes he looked to Janet. She was staring at the wall. “Oh ya, and why’s that?” Paul casually responded.

“Because the other girls are to fast for me.” Janet moaned, “I can’t keep up! It’s embarrassing!”

“Well, aren’t you out there to have fun?” Paul tried to sound interested, “Why don’t you just try to compete with yourself?”

“Don’t give me that.” Janet tossed Paul a sharp look. “They all joke about it. Talkin’ to each other sayin’, ‘Well at least you’re not a slow as Janet.’ Or ‘don’t slow down you’ll catch up to Janet.’ It’s supposedly all in good fun but, it’s still humiliating. I’m finished!”

Paul tried to calm her down. Maybe if she had another reason to stick with it. “Well, what about all that Christmas fat you wanted to burn off?” This was not the right thing to say. Instantly Janet swung her head over with wide eyes. “Honey, Christmas was four months ago. Does it look like I still have fat from four months ago?” Janet was starting to sound hysterical.

Paul new he was in hot water. So he picked up his newspaper, and pretended to look for his previous article. “Honey,” he responded casually, “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

Janet gave Paul an very angry look, got out of bed, walked towards the bathroom, stopped, turned around, came back to the bed, slumped back into her pillow and crossed her arms. “I’m going to bed.” She growled.

But she didn’t. She just sat there staring at Paul. These were some very tense minutes for Paul.

A Brighter Future

As the bell rings and resonates through out the halls of Princess Margaret Secondary, swarms of adolescents, mostly Caucasian, with a few aboriginal and East Indians in the mix, flow through the doors of their previous classroom. With a spring in each individuals step and a glowing expression of jubilance upon their faces, each student walks to there next class while taking part in there own kind of revelry. It’s an amazing atmosphere and being located in the small town of Penticton, B.C., one gets a real sense of community within these walls. Such a strong sense in fact, that when pressed by the topic of Bullying, the problem is actually, NOT a problem.

When asked about the topic, the school principle, Mr. Grady responded saying “Here at Princess Margaret, we pride our selves on the lack of bullying cases that have been found and we continue to make our students aware that bullying is wrong.” A student, Andrew Livsey agrees, “You’re a moron if you think bullying is a problem here. People that think there getting bullied just have a ridiculous lack of humour!” One may ask the question. “Well, how does this school create such a blissful, social environment, while many other schools in Canada are struggling?” The answer, as mentioned before, is community.

Through out the year, Princess Margaret holds many events that are uncommonly found in Canadian schools. There is Mr. Maggie, which puts five of Princess Margaret’s most distinguished men in a contest to win the affection of four judges, as well as Western week, were each day there’s new western themed event. Some may say that these events are a waste of time, and decrease productivity. However, this just may, be the secret to Princess Margaret’s success on anti-bullying. For every event that is held at Princess Margaret is a bonding experience for the whole school. Pink Day is actually, a whole event dedicated to the anti-bullying cause. This is when the whole school wears pink in order eradicate bullying. However, when one talks to the students the general consensus seems to be, that bullying has been eradicated, and now the day is more a celebration of that.

Princess Margaret is on the forefront of the anti-bullying movement and is an institution that every school in Canada should model themselves after. With a blissful atmosphere and school bonding events, Princess Margaret is a glimpse at the brighter future.