So often what matters most is what we do when no one is looking. That is one reason why it mattered so much when it came out that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick had done the kind of thing we wish more of our leaders in all sectors of life would do.
I wrote about it here at the time, but as the national discussion about bullying has come to the fore, I was reminded about my governor's quiet act of heroism. He is in a tight race for reelection and he can use our help.
Sometimes a pol makes news in a routine radio interview. But in this case, what he said became legend before it became news. That interview and all that has happened since, revealed the governor as a quiet hero who helped a 9 year old boy who had emailed the governor because he was being bullied at school.
I live in Western Massachusetts where bullying in the public schools had frequently been big news. Last year, a boy who attended a Springfield charter school committed suicide. His mother, who had never held public office was later elected to the Springfield school committee. Then, a girl who attended public high school in South Hadley also committed suicide, as the Springfield Republican reported, "following weeks of bullying at school, online and through text messaging." There were worries about potential copycat suicides. (Fortunately that didn't happen.) Those most responsible for the bullying are currently on trial on a variety of related charges.
Governor Patrick's interview on WHYN in Springfield -- created one of those radio moments when you have to stop what you are doing just to listen. Political consultant Tony Cignoli was visiting a senior center when he and about 60 others heard the governor's quietly compelling story. Tony was inspired to send out an email about it, which I excerpted in my post. The story traveled widely in MA cyberspace before the Herald splashed the story on the front page:
Gov. Deval Patrick is urging adults to take direct action in the Bay State’s heartbreaking war on bullying after he personally helped a "frail, slight young man" by issuing a warning by school intercom to those who would harass others at the elementary school.
"No bullying, because if I hear about it I’m coming back to deal with it myself," the governor told students.
"I don’t know whether it made a difference, but I wanted him to know I was thinking about him and I wanted the kid who was doing the bullying to know I was watching," he told the Herald. "It took a lot of guts for him to reach out," said Patrick. "For this young man it was a safety issue, you could tell it was affecting his experience across the board, he was so clearly distracted."
The child had nervously declined to meet with the governor in the principal’s office, but sat next to Patrick and introduced himself in the lunchroom. "I recognized his name," Patrick said. "I asked him if he had written me an e-mail, and he nodded, very nervously, and it was as if there was no one else in the room."
Patrick asked the boy if his bully was in the lunchroom. "He looked around very cautiously and he nodded his head. I asked him if he would point him out or if he wanted me to talk to him and he said, ‘No,’ " Patrick said. "The expression on his face was so compelling. He clearly wanted some help but he wasn’t sure how to get it," Patrick said.
The school superintendent said the governor’s intercom message prompted spontaneous discussions about bullying in classrooms afterwards. The victimized boy met with the principal to further address the issue as well.
Patrick signed a sweeping piece of anti-bullying legislation in May.