Miracle, tree doin ruku

When the video of 68 year old Karen Klein being verbally abused by four seventh grade boys on a school bus was uploaded to YouTube, it gave most of us our very first look at the reality of bullying and all of its ugliness. What followed was an incredible outpouring of solidarity for Mrs. Klein. A gentleman in Canada set up a fund for her on the crowd funding site, Indiegogo.com, which raised about $650,000 for her to "take a vacation". To say that the incident struck a nerve with people is an understatement. The airwaves were bombarded with indictments of the four students and calls to do more to combat bullying. This raised the inevitable question, "Is bullying on the rise?"

There is not a single person who has not witnessed bullying in one form or another at some point in his life. Bullying is real and is part of the dark side to human behavior. It has always been there. But, this time, someone filmed it and we all became outside observers to the horrible, base and brutal reality of bullying. Some will blame the media, the movie industry and our modern culture and say that all of it contributes to our lack of respect for others. Others were quick to blame the parents of the students- saying that they must have been remiss in the way they raised their children. I do not know the students, their families or anything about them. However, like most issues whose root is human morality, no law or policy will stop what is ultimately a problem within our collective soul.

I found it very refreshing to see the outpouring of support for Karen. I found it even more interesting to watch some of the hundreds of video responses posted on YouTube- some of which were from young students in the same age range as the students on the bus. Anger, outrage and sympathy were the main responses from most everyone. The very students who bullied Karen Klein were treated to retribution not from their parents, not from school officials and not even from law enforcement. They received their punishment from the entire world. The bullies were now being bullied by the world. Death threats began to pour in and the families of the boys, in some cases, had to pack up and leave their homes. The original video posted contained the names of the boys involved and, in some cases, included their cell phone numbers. If any of these young boys were tossed into an angry mob, I cannot imagine the result.

Bullying is very real. I have seen its ugly face many times throughout my life. I have seen children bully children, adults bully children, adults bully adults and yes, children bully adults. At its root are many sociological factors regarding human behavior. In the final analysis, bullying the bullies is not what will end this horrific element of human behavior. Though the fear of retaliation may stop some people from bullying, it does not get at the root issue which is unhappiness. It does not enter the mind of one who is happy and content to wish to hurt another human being. Though the four boys on that bus may very well be victims of their age and immaturity, it is we who are adults who truly need to evaluate our behavior. Karen Klein showed herself to be stoic and above board by not lashing back at the boys. Her response was a lesson for all. Bullying will end not because we threaten those who bully, but because we learn to love others as ourselves.


Miracle, tree doin ruku by JahazVId