Far too often these days we hear of another tragic teenage
suicide traced to heartbreaking bullying going on in their lives. School administrators seem to be helpless to
stop it or apathetic at best. What is
this seemingly new phenomenon and what can we do about it?
New? Hardly. As a child of the 50’s and 60’s I clearly
remember bullying being a part of everyday life. Some kids got their books knocked out of
their hands on a daily basis, shoved out of the seats on the bus, cornered and
tormented in the bathrooms; tripped while they walked down the aisle; taunted,
called names, teased, slapped. Whatever
we could think of to put each other down, it seemed. My mother would remind that, “Sticks and
stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” Not exactly the truest words ever spoken, but
it put the onus back on us to learn how to deal with it. It was called “problem solving”. We were told to stand up to these bullies and
they would leave us alone. It worked
most of the time and we became stronger for it.
The question is, what is
the answer to the current crisis or epidemic of bullying? Make the bullies stop? How?
Children will taunt, tease, and bully outside of the critical eyes of
adults. Sadly, it is the nature of the
beast. How about we just teach our
children how to deal with it? Stand up
to these young jerks; be strong and assertive. Turn it into a teaching experience,
a life skills lesson.
Bullies will always be there no matter how old we are or
where we live. We can’t legislate
euphoria or demand that our schools create one.
Bullies are a fact of life. Deal
with it.
