Hot Topic - The 'B' word

          Since bullying is such a hot topic amongst schools, children, and adolescents I thought I would take a little different view on it and discuss the bullying which occurred recently; against an adult school bus monitor by middle school kids.   In case you haven’t heard about this story, here is the CNN news link:  http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/us/new-york-bus-monitor-reaction/index.html

            In a nut shell it was close to if not the last day of school and a group of middle school children verbally abused the 68-year old bus monitor relentlessly for at least ten minutes while she sat there, defenseless.  I say at least ten minutes because that is the length of the video one of the teenagers posted onto YouTube where it went viral…and not in a good way.  You can watch the YouTube clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAgti_2uziA.  The teenager who posted that clip was involved in the bullying.  How silly of him to post that online completely oblivious to how wrong what they were doing was and how much negative attention it would receive.    

            This clip generated a lot of media attention and once again the B word was back in headlines.  Bullying is such a difficult concept to deal with because it is not something you can physically see such as violence with guns and knives.  Words really are what kill in bullying and they can be worse than any knife cut or gun wound during adolescent development and beyond.  The words these middle school children used were cruel and worse than a physical wound. I found it difficult to stop watching the ten minute clip as I was astonished that it just kept going and that the children really did not realize what they were doing was wrong.  During this stage of social development, an adolescent’s need and want to belong to their peer group is so important that they don’t even realize what they are doing is wrong and bluntly cruel. 

            This story however does have a rather happy ending as a fund was started for the school bus monitor who had mentioned in an interview how she had not taken a vacation in many years because she couldn’t afford it.  That fund is now up to around $70,000 and I believe other companies, such as Southwest Airlines, have offered trips to her as well as others in positions like hers.  The fund was started by a man who was bullied as a kid and respected how the bus monitor held her composure against those kids.  It is amazing how those feelings and emotions from being bullied and picked on as a child follow us into adulthood.  But how do you stop bullying?  I sure would like to know.