By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Jim Jelinske had the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students at St. Mary’s Catholic School totally captivated. At times they were laughing and dancing. Other times they were very quiet…somber, some with tears streaming down their young cheeks.
Jelinske is on a mission. He doesn’t want to have any more young lives snuffed out or forever destroyed because of bullies harassing, teasing, or picking on fellow students who might not fit in. Jelinske witnessed first hand what harassment and bullying can do. He was a counselor at a school where a young boy he was trying to help was so upset by the mistreatment he received from other students on a Midwest playground that he blindly ran out onto a city street and was killed by an on-coming car.
“I had a very hard time dealing with that tragedy,” he said following a very emotional presentation he had just given to the St. Mary’s students last Thursday morning. “I realized the only way I could get over the loss of that young man was to dedicate the rest of my life trying to curb this type of behavior.”
Jelinske conducts about 40 bullying and harassment seminars each year to schools in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. He has a business called Creative Education Services, which provides training, presentations, and workshops for schools, businesses, and organizations.
While in Caledonia last week, Jelinske gave a special parent presentation Wednesday evening, and then gave presentations to St. Mary’s students and staff. He incorporated music, dance, jokes, magic tricks, with very sobering accounts of how teasing and bullying has ruined countless lives.
“You are the students the younger kids at St. Mary’s School look up to. If you make fun of another student who may be a little different, talk behind their backs, treat them with disrespect, or harass them, these younger students will do the same. You need to say ‘NO!’ when you see your friends mistreating others. You have to have the courage to stand up to the bullies, even if they are your best friends. Bullies think it’s fun to pick on others. But no one likes to be bullied,” Jelinske said.
Jelinske held up a large photo of a young girl. She looked like any normal teen. The picture was cropped tight, so you could only see her face and shoulders. Jelinske told the group this girl was into Goth. She wore nothing but black clothes, dyed her hair black, and had pierces all over her face. Her mother asked her why she wanted to be so different. She replied that she didn’t fit in with the other kids, and this was her way to make a statement.
This young teen was the subject of continuous ridicule. One day while standing in the lunch line, some of her fellow students decided to pull a prank. There was a four-step drop from the station where the students picked up their lunch trays to where they were served their food. While standing on the top step in the lunch line, a student tapped the young girl on the shoulder. She turned around, and the student gave her a shove. The other students knew this was coming and moved out of the way, clearing the path for a fall down the stairs. She fell down the four stairs, landed on her back and severed her spinal cord. She is now a quadriplegic.
“This girl will never be able to run, dance, or even feed or bathe herself. She will be dependent on others the rest of her life,” Jelinske noted, as he looked at the large image of the young teen. “And when the girl who pushed her, or the other students who got out of the way were asked ‘why?’ they all replied, ‘We were just kidding. We didn’t mean it to happen.’ But it did. This girl will remain in a wheelchair the rest of her life because of this.”
Jelinske encouraged the St. Mary’s students to get to know others, even if they seem different.
“It doesn’t make a difference if they are short, tall, fat, skinny, have thick glasses, stutter when they talk, have a different ethnic background than you, or have some type of disability. Everyone is special. Everyone has a story. We are all part of God’s world.
“If everyone would treat others the way they want to be treated, the world would be a much better place. I’m hoping I can make a difference by impressing on these young people what a devastating effect bullying can have on others,” Jelinske concluded.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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