…the children wrote scripts, and we discussed what to say and practiced how to stand and where to look. Then, they bravely role-played these painful moments with their new insights and a male therapist dressed as a character named “Big Mean Gene/Jean.” (Children were never allowed to play in the bully role.)
Next, the male therapist took off his hat, and we processed further as a group. This was one of their favourite activities, despite the many other fantastic activities. Consequently, given the activity and the stark differences evident in the jars, they did not want to ‘be mean’ to them, so we rightfully ended the experiment and brilliantly, the group decided to put the middle jar in a kind of “therapy,” where they spoke compassionate words of support and comfort to it. Interestingly, most of the children offered similar words they wished they had heard.
This picture is from the final session. You can see clearly that the bullied jar on the right tragically broke down into a brown mush, suggesting the damaging effects of bullying. Meanwhile, the dark-colored rice in the middle jar coagulated into a mold that surfaced for release. Our experiment, inspired by Masaru Emoto’s ideas, illustrated the damaging effects of bullying versus the healing effects of therapy.