Was my thrilling story of standing up to authority in order to protect someone I cared about not enough for you? Well, since I'm a generous person, have some more!
What's the difference between 'bullying' and 'goofing around' in the eyes of an adult? I wish I knew. They change their goddamn minds every two minutes. When I was in fifth grade I was playing outside with my friend 'Charlie.' Remember Charlie? Yep. He's going to guest in another one of these stories.
We were playing in the woods near the elementary school, waiting for our parents. We were just goofing around and he picked up a large branch. He started swinging it around and he accidently left go and it hit me. All I got was a little scratch on my cheek below my eye. There was no blood. There was no scarring. It was just a little pink line. He apologized, I told him not to worry, and we kept playing.
When my mother questioned me about the little line on my cheek, I told her what happened. She. Flipped. Shit. Absolute shit! His parents were called, the principal (same principal from the other story, might I add.. ) was called, adults were going completely ape shit about a little pink line on my face.
I was pissed. This wasn't fair. He had already apologized, I wasn't hurt, there was no problem! And yet these adults were treating this as if he broke into my house, murdered my family, stole all our belongings, and permanently blinded me with acid and shark teeth!
Looking back on this after what went down two years ago, it really rubs me the wrong way. How is it that when two fifth graders have a tiny accident with a stick, everyone goes ballistic, but when there are serious problems afoot there is no one to be found. Charlie was my friend. He apologized, I forgave him. There was no issue whatsoever. But when Charlie is attacked, physically and verbally, Mr. Big Tough Scary Principal and all his little enforcement friends hand him a tissue, shut down the bathrooms, and then lie to a 13 year old's face through clenched teeth. The thought sickens me.
When faced with the problem of bullying, it's shit like this that makes kids NOT want to get help. What adults think is 'help' is just fuel for the bullies. It makes the target an even bigger target. Instead of having children running to adults, who will inevitably make it worse, did people ever think that maybe, just maybe, if we raised kids to be accepting and open minded that MAYBE, just fucking MAYBE, we wouldn't have such a big problem with bullying?
And maybe if you're a parent, you should look within yourself and try to see if maybe you're showing these kids that intolerance is acceptable. Are you homophobic? Are you racist? Sexist? Your children look up to you. They mirror what you do until they can figure it out for themselves. If you treat them like they are the center of the universe and everyone else is inferior, they cannot and will not accept anything less. They will be the ones who grow up to bully an innocent freshman for getting the lead in the musical, because how dare someone be more talented than they are. How dare someone be smarter, or a better dancer, or just a better fucking person. Unacceptable.
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Bridget's words of wisdom for today..
They spend all this time and effort telling kids to be leaders, but if everyone is a leader, who's going to follow them?
-Bridget
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