My Daughter, My Hero

My oldest daughter, Violin Girl, has been facing a bit of social injustice lately. She's being teased at school for being a good person. You see, she's been sticking up for the underdogs in her 6th grade class. The "popular kids" don't like being called on the carpet for being mean, so to prove their point, they've started being mean to Violin Girl.

Here's one example. The other day Violin Girl was standing in line, waiting to get her lunch. One of her friends, Miss Popular, was standing with her. Another girl, Miss Ostracized, was standing in front of them. The line got jostled by boy in her class, a brute I'll call Sick-Bully, and Ostracized gets shoved backwards into Popular.

To hear my daughter tell it, Popular stepped backwards, made a face like she'd tasted something really vile, and started saying, "Ooh, ooh! Ick! Get away from me!"

Violin Girl took Popular aside and said, "That's not cool."

"What's not cool?" Popular replied.

"Acting like that. Teasing Ostracized like that." Violin Girl said.

"But she's gross!" Popular defended. "She's got cooties."

"No she's not, and no she doesn't." Violin Girl persisted.

"Yeah, but she stinks." Popular said.

"Look. Everybody stinks." Violin Girl said.

"No they don't."

"Yeah, they do."

This last bit made Miss Popular very upset. She actually started to cry because Violin Girl wasn't backing her up on being mean to Ostracized. It got Violin Girl in trouble. Not much trouble, once it was explained, but still in trouble.

Now the other kids are being mean to Violin Girl, as well. Sick-Bully has been to worst of all. At 12 years old he's actually been making sexually explicit comments, designed to embarrass and hurt my daughter. We've talked to her teacher, and she's done what she can to minimize the damage, but it's still happening. Violin Girl is being attacked because she defends those who can't, or won't, defend themselves. All of this has really put Violin Girl into an emotional tail spin. She's only 12 years old, after all.

The bullies think she's weird. She frightens them because she's her own person, and not a mindless plebe. Because she frightens them, they make her a target for their scorn and bigotry in order to try and make her afraid. They want her to comply with their vile version of "the group" and stay down in the depths of mediocrity where they are, instead of rising above the rabble and reaching for greatness of spirit.

I have a very different view of Violin Girl. I think she's absolutely courageous. I think she's a hero.