Fellow blogger Michele Cheplic recently wrote about the video that has gone viral, of the grandmother who was bullied on a school bus by middle school students. I first saw this clip on a national news program, in which a journalist described these kids as being dead inside.
I know kids can be mean. Believe me; I have sometimes seen it in my own children. And they have certainly been victimized by it. But mean doesn’t describe what happened on that bus.
It was outright cruelty. And cruelty is something bred out of a heart that is cold inside.
The vicious, heartless things that were said to that woman frightens me. If any human being could so callously allow those daggers to come out of their mouths, what else are they capable of?
I have to agree with what Michele said in her blog, it’s difficult to believe the parents of these tweens don’t have problems with them at home. It must manifest itself in some way. No one can act that way toward another person and not have some issues.
It is hard for me to imagine what I would do if I ever found out my children were acting that way. First of all, it is blatant disrespect for authority. I have instilled in my children since they were young that you don’t talk back to elders.
In fact, my youngest son tried it one time when he was in the 4th grade and it hasn’t happened again. He was made to apologize to that adult. He was humiliated by it but it taught him a lesson.
Even the handful of times when my children have been mean in some way, I immediately got after them. There are two things in our home that my children know I will absolutely not tolerate, nor dispense grace on…it is lying and bullying.
What took place on that bus was cruel behavior. I certainly hope the consequences are severe…enough that those children would never treat another human being that way again.
Related Articles:
Talk to Your Teens about Bullying
Parents and Teachers Need to Work Together to Stop Bullying
Photo by Liftarn in Wikipedia