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Monday, October 03, 2011
Should We Rethink Our Anti-Bullying Strategy?
On Sept. 19, news broke of yet another adolescent suicide related to bullying. The boy, Jamey Rodemeyer, was 14 years old and identified alternately as gay or bisexual.
He had withstood years of bullying, especially online. Just days after his death, many of the country's leading experts on bullying convened in Washington for the second annual National Anti-Bullying Summit.
It is a shame this kid committed suicide. But, blaming the bullies is wrong. I think homosexuality is an abnormal behavior and not just a choice. And, people deal with this or don't deal with this "choice" in different ways. The worst, is suicide. It is time people take ownership of their choices and stop blaming everyone else. Everyone has bullies in their lives at every age and learning to deal with them is a fact of life. Suicide should not be one of the options.
What a load of crap. Just another example of our government becoming a Nanny State. How did I EVER get through 12 years of school without "Grief Counselors" getting involved in every one of the life-situations that arise? I was bullied. I was bullied by one guy in particular that never let up on me. He would corner me on the way home from school and take whatever change I had in my pocket, then smack me around a little and walk off laughing about it. He did this until the one day I had enough - and figured I had nothing to lose - and hauled-off and hit the guy before he could hit me, and broke his nose. End of being bullied. I think back to that guy, and look at him more as a "character builder" of my youth, than as a bully. We both learned a life-lesson that day. I am not suggesting breaking some guy's nose, but feel we should give our kids today the same opportunity to stand on their own, rather than trying to regulate their lives with social laws.
3 comments:
You will never stop kids from being kids using homosexuality as a tool to brain wash our youth is liberal BS.
It is a shame this kid committed suicide. But, blaming the bullies is wrong. I think homosexuality is an abnormal behavior and not just a choice. And, people deal with this or don't deal with this "choice" in different ways. The worst, is suicide. It is time people take ownership of their choices and stop blaming everyone else. Everyone has bullies in their lives at every age and learning to deal with them is a fact of life. Suicide should not be one of the options.
[CORRECTED COPY]
What a load of crap. Just another example of our government becoming a Nanny State.
How did I EVER get through 12 years of school without "Grief Counselors" getting involved in every one of the life-situations that arise?
I was bullied. I was bullied by one guy in particular that never let up on me. He would corner me on the way home from school and take whatever change I had in my pocket, then smack me around a little and walk off laughing about it.
He did this until the one day I had enough - and figured I had nothing to lose - and hauled-off and hit the guy before he could hit me, and broke his nose.
End of being bullied.
I think back to that guy, and look at him more as a "character builder" of my youth, than as a bully.
We both learned a life-lesson that day.
I am not suggesting breaking some guy's nose, but feel we should give our kids today the same opportunity to stand on their own, rather than trying to regulate their lives with social laws.
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