Editorial: Bullying incident struck a nerve

Northern Advocate editor Craig Cooper says "I am not the only person angry at bullying and street violence in Whangarei". Photo / John Stone

It's been a long week and to be honest, I am worried of making a complete hash of this.

I am not sure I have too much to say that makes sense.

I am tired, probably carrying a little too much anger and have tried to write this several times.

On Wednesday, I was at home, on a day off after working at the weekend.

I received texts, emails and phone calls of support after publishing an editorial about my daughter being attacked outside a Stan Walker concert last Friday.

I know it was raw, it was also written from the heart and truthful, I believe.

It struck a nerve because I am not the only person angry at bullying and street violence in Whangarei. There are many others. For whatever reason, the catalyst for the cry of "enough" was the assault on my daughter.

My wife Emily and I have been blown away by the number of other people this has happened to, and the common desire to do something about it. Most of all, we would like to say thank you for the personal support from people we know, and complete strangers.

We are very grateful for the compassion shown toward our daughter.

I don't want to be a poster boy for bullying, but I know I can't open my mouth, say something and then back off. So I won't.

I can't as I am very much part of the community who is saying loudly "this is wrong".

I'm also just a hurt, annoyed and very protective dad who spoke his mind about something and someone I care very much about. Who happens to be a newspaper editor.

A very grateful newspaper editor.