“Hurt people hurt people,” anti-bullying campaign draws crowd

“Hurt people hurt people,” was the sentiment echoed throughout the anti-bullying campaign on Sunday.

Hosted by the Northeast Georgia Family Pawn Shop, located at 2921 Hwy 17, in Toccoa, the campaign offered anti-bullying speeches from several individuals of the community, two in particular were Stephens County Commissioner Chair Debbie Whitlock and from the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office Major Joe Smith.

Organizer, Adam Hague, told WNEG News that this campaign is only the first of several to come.

“This is the first of more to come, until we can find a solution to end bullying,” Hague said.

Whitlock expressed that the community must instill compassion and love in its youth in order to eliminate bullying.

“We must start at home by teaching our children love, compassion, and forgiveness,” she said.

During the presentation, Jonathan Hooks explained that with social media being an integral part of our society, and therefore bullying has a further range than just at school, anyone can be bullied through text messaging, email, online, and other avenues.

“When something happens it spreads like wildfire, with Facebook everyone gets to know about it. Which makes it even harder, because the ones who do know, do nothing about it. And the ones that don’t know, can’t help. It’s time for the community to come together and start acting like family, if you’re in this community then you are family,” Hooks said.

Hooks added that it is the community’s job to come together and stand up against bullying.

He further explained that if we waste our energy hurting each other, what are we doing to build up the community.

For questions on how you can become involved contact Hague at 706-949-9440.