BRATTLEBORO — In the past weeks, with great sorrow and dismay, we have read editorial responses disagreeing with the settlement of the court case regarding the death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old girl from South Hadley, Mass. who committed suicide last year after enduring months of relentless bullying.
As students of peace, justice, and environmental studies at Greenfield Community College, we are particularly sensitive to the challenges facing youth and families today.
As our national community grieves for this loss of young life, we urge readers to refrain from framing this case in black and white. Although the youths involved made harmful choices, simplifying the issue to bad individuals needing punishment does not bring true justice to all those directly and indirectly involved.
We want to recognize the courage demonstrated by Anne O'Brien, Phoebe's mother, and Ashley Longe, one of the students charged, whose decision to meet and talk with each other modeled our capacity to communicate and understand one another even under extremely emotional circumstances.
The events of September 11th have been a part of our lives since we were small, and a culture of reactivity has become second nature to our generation. We can only guess that these students were ill equipped to manage the social pressures found in schools today and resorted to methods that they have learned are normal.
But this is not the world we want to live in.
As we seek alternatives, we feel that peace education will play a critical role in fostering empathy and compassion for one another in a diverse and complex world. We have been transformed by our own work in the field of peace studies and have faith in the power of its teachings.
This is the world we envision.