For everyone, come on. You know you don't want to hurt anyone.
MMick
You know...I do. The only way these guys are gonna shut up is if they can't talk anymore. But look, I just wanted to call to say thanks, and don't worry, you won't get hurt.
[to teacher] Excuse me. You had to have just heard that. You did, didn't you? You heard the whole thing, and then you just, what, hid in your classroom?!
I don't think you're sneaky. I think you're cute. And I think the name "Snooky" suits you....and I like the sound of it even if you never snuck a cookie. And I like having a special name for you because you and I have a special relationship. I never had a little sister. I think you're great.
[to his family] What is wrong with everyone? What's with all the teasing and the name-calling? Why do we have to keep doing that? You know what, I'm sick of it. I can't take it anymore.
I am not Mother Teresa. I offer what I said to Ruthie as proof. I should only hope to do one thing as great as any of the millions of things Mother Teresa ever did. They drink, they smoke pot, and they throw a lot of parties, and yet...I liked them. I don't approve of how they live their lives, but I liked them. I like everybody. They just didn't like me. I kinda got kicked out.
The way you're always sneaking around, I'm surprised you don't know already. In fact, that's what your nickname should be. Sneaky. Not Snooky, but Sneaky.
Yeah, but why do you think he was teasing you? Maybe he was trying to point something out to you. Good night, Sneaky! [turns over and goes to sleep; Ruthie's eyes fill with tears]
[to his Social Studies class] I don't feel safe at school, and I'm tired of waiting for everyone else to make our school safe for us. You know, every time there's a shooting, we hear that the shooter was someone who felt that there was a score to settle, and it's always someone who felt they had to shoot someone to get even. You know, that's a weird concept. Some calls you a name, so you kill them? But the name-callers are relentless. You know they are. And like a pack, they engage others in their hunt to destroy the already vulnerable students. They're torturing people. And you know what? We allow it. We hear them, we don't speak up. Or worse, we hear them, we join in. If not in the hallways, on the internet. The teasing that isolates one student or a couple of students from the rest of us has to stop. And I think the only way it's going to, is if we stop ourselves. The issue is not who's to blame. The issue is who's going to take the responsibility. Why don't we claim responsibility? I mean, after all we're the one with the really power here. We have the power to change people's lives. We have the power to save people's lives.So I say we claim that power. Seize the day. You know, there are always going to be cliques in high school, there are always gonna be the popular students and the not-so-popular students. There are always gonna be winners and losers, teasers and the teased. But I think it's time for the mean and the cruel to be silenced by our insistence...before they or any of us is silenced by a gun. You know, because we don't know who's on the brink. We can't know who's merely threatening retaliation, and who's actually is capable of carrying out a threat. What we do know...is that we can make a difference.
