Posts tagged Karen Klein

Wow, everyone’s talking about bullying these days, huh?  You’d think it was an awful phenomenon that humans just recently started picking up, but I’m pretty sure it’s been happening since the dawn of man.

A documentary (appropriately titled ‘Bully’) was just in theaters, we constantly hear about tragic suicides of victims of bullying, and the news will highlight a particular awful story about a situation involving a person or person’s being ridiculed by others.

Hell, I just read about a teacher who, in order to teach a lesson about bullying, made EACH of her kindergarten students hit the kid in class who was torturing them.  Um, okay…maybe not the BEST approach…. but… nice effort?

The recent story about Karen Klein, the bus monitor being mistreated by children prompted me to think about this bullying “trend.”

The burning question is: why are people (not just children) such heartless assholes?  Does it start with the parents?  And how do you stop this madness?

I think every young child needs some sort of sensitivity training on how to treat people.  I think they need to learn to accept those who are smaller, weaker, weirder, and different.  They need to learn to speak up with they see this crap happening and not to condone this behavior from their friends. 

I knew bullies growing up, and remember feeling like I had to keep my mouth shut when they were tormenting others.  Back then I remember thinking it was better to be FRIENDS with the bully than the enemy.  It’s hard to speak up at a young age and defend someone when you’re secretly just glad you’re not the victim.

Sure, we all occasionally have some not-so-nice things to say about people.  But can’t we just partake in good ol’ fashioned talking behind each other’s backs?  Or better yet, there’s no harm in making a critical or snarky comment in your head!  It saddens me to see people preying on the weak and showing no remorse for basically ruining someone’s day.  Or, life.  

I guess all I’m saying is when it comes to yourself and how you raise your children, try to remember the Golden Rule:

Treat others as you wish to be treated.

To counteract this serious post, I will leave you with a video of a pug pushing a baby stroller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUrZGsNhaiU

There, that should brighten your day!  NOW BE NICE TO EVERYONE!