The City of Oak Park, Ill. has embarked on a project to collect and publish testimonials and pledges for their YouTube channel, OPItGetsBetter. Below are a few screen captures and excerpts from the channel. See many more at http://www.youtube.com/opitgetsbetter.*
SANDRA AND DAVID SOKOL
"Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. We pledge to spread this message to our friends, family and neighbors. We'll speak up against hate and intolerance wherever we see it or hear it. We'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and all bullied youth by lettng them know that it gets better."
REBECCA LEVIN AND SOPHIE KALUZIAK
"What I want to tell you is that life gets a lot better as people start growing up and are less afraid of people showing their love for each other. ... We have had a phenomenal life together. We've got two kids that are already grown and we've experienced wonderful things."
SENATOR DON HARMON
"High school is tough for everyone and for kids who are being bullied, it's especially tough. The good news is that high school ends and you move on into the rest of your lives and I can't tell you how many folks I saw in high school who were being bullied who have gone on to do incredibly great things."
JIM
"By the time I was four, I knew that I was different. I knew that the friendships with the boys in my class meant something different to me than it did to them. And I also knew—somehow I knew—that it was a secret that I had to keep closely guarded. ... I went through life until I was 21 years old without ever telling another soul what I had known since I was four."
It Gets Better
BY VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN
Hey, thanks for giving me a chance to say a few words to you. I want to start off by saying, first and foremost, I'm proud of you. There's not a single thing about you that's not normal, good and decent. And you're not alone. There are tens of millions of people around the world, and millions of people right here in America—and people right in your neighborhood—who may be or are perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender; they're normal people. But so many people in your circumstance are experiencing being bullied or ridiculed and I know it's not only hurtful, but sometimes it can be literally frightening. And there's absolutely no justification for it.
Just remember what this woman named Eleanor Roosevelt, president Roosevelt's wife, she once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Don't give your consent. Look around you. Look at the people who are the bullies. They're the same ones that are making fun of every other kid in your class who has something different about him or her. They made fun of me because I stuttered and it hurt. The only thing all of us had in common is that we were the vehicles to be used by those losers to try to make themselves feel superior. It's not about you, it's about them.
Folks, it's hurtful and sometimes it's really hard to understand that it's the bully who's really the inferior one. That doesn't make it any easier for you. It doesn't make it hurt any less. It doesn't make the fear go away. But I came to understand because of my mother and father that the fact that I stuttered didn't make me less bright, less worthy or less of a person as they tried to make me feel. It was the people who were making fun of me who were less worthy, less bright.
You know, although I didn't like it at the time, I now, as a grown man and Vice President of the United States, I look back on it now and realize it really was a godsend to me; it gave me so much self-confidence and it helped me grow. But most of all it made me more sensitive to see inside the hurts other people. I came out of it a much stronger person. And now when I look back, I see just how weak those bullies actually were.
One day, not long from now, you're going to look back on this time in your life and you'll be incredibly proud that you were able to get through it, too. And the rest of us will be incredibly grateful because you're the people who are going to grow up to be the adults who help society become more caring, more decent, more mature. You know what it's like so you won't do it to anybody else for any reason. You'll have the experience; you can empathize. You can use that to change attitudes and to change perceptions, to literally change the world.
And right now I know for many of you young folks, each day can be a struggle. I know for LGBT youth it can be especially hard and, on some days, it seems almost unbearable. But when you feel that way, think about what I'm saying to you. You have nothing to be ashamed of; you have every reason to be proud. Proud!
Don't let them take your self-worth away. Things do get better. You might not be able to see it right now, but it's there and it's waiting for you. I absolutely promise you that.
So fight through and keep going. You know, the life that lies ahead is so much greater than the difficulties that lie behind you. It will get better and I look forward to the day when all of you will be able to make us all feel better about ourselves as a country.
