Strongman shares stories of bullying
ZELIENOPLE — A man who's traveled the world spreading his anti-bullying message came to Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School Wednesday morning and showed students what it's like to be both physically and emotionally strong.
Jon Pritikin is undoubtedly one of the strongest men in the world. He holds a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for rolling up two frying pans in less than 30 seconds with his bare hands.
His physical strength was put on display several times Wednesday during two assemblies for the more than 800 students at the school.
He ripped a phone book in half, rolled a frying pan, bent a steel bar in half and broke a baseball bat over his leg, all to the amusement and awe of the students in the audience.
But it was his emotional story that brought him to the Seneca Valley School District, a story he's told to more than 7 million students around the world from places such as Japan and Israel to countries across the Middle East.
It was a story that brought the hulking Pritikin to tears as he described incessant bullying as a child. He had a speech impediment and was slower than his peers in taking up reading and writing. He was even once called a “throwaway” by one of his teachers.
He would eat lunch by himself by a tree out in the playground because his fellow students would too often throw things at him during the lunch period.
He even got stitches in his face one time when some students lured him to play a game of tag, only to chase him around the school. One student eventually tripped him on the tiled floor inside the school because he was “trying to impress his friends by hurting someone else.”
Unfortunately, that kind of treatment wasn't anything new for the small boy.
“My whole life people had been mean to me,” he said. “Sometimes all we need is a friend.”
The story was all a part of Pritikin's central message: bullying in any way, shape or form is unacceptable.
Everyone needs a hero, he told the students, and any one of the hundreds of students in the audience has a chance to be a hero every day.
“Don't ever believe a lie when someone tells you that you're not special, because you are,” he said. “You're not an accident or a mistake. You are here for a reason.”
Looking at Pritikin now, it's hard to believe he ever needed a hero in his own life. But he did, and that hero came in the form of a high school teacher who helped him get into college and inspired him to reach for greater goals.
Stacey Richard, a first-grade teacher at the school, was instrumental in bringing Pritikin to the area.
She said Connoquenessing Valley always sends a “strict message” against bullying, a message reinforced by Pritikin's presentation.
“It's a perfect message for us,” she said. “He shows kids how to be a superhero while delivering a very important message.”
Pritikin, who came to the school because of sponsorship from the National Character Education Foundation, does more than 400 assemblies per year.
Before he left, he urged each student at the school to take a pledge that no student will eat alone for the rest of the school year.
He also gave every student a high five as they left the cafeteria.
“Let's watch out for each other,” he told them.
