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Carol Perkins: Bully Awareness Month October is not only Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but it is also Bully Awareness Month The next previous Carol Perkins column: Special eligibles trip - IV, Home to Guy & Fluffy October is not only Breast Cancer Awareness month, but it is also the month for giving a loud voice against bullying. Bully Awareness month. Wearing purple t-shirts was one way of showing this awareness. Those who have known me a long time and students who sat in my classes are more than aware of my disdain for bullying. I preached against it and have addressed issues many times personally with bullies who needed to have a light shined on their mean streaks (as if they didn't know). "Miss Perkins, were you bullied?" a student asked me back in the 70's. I can see her face now, and naturally she would assume I had been a victim since I was so passionately against it, but I was never bullied. I never heard much talk about bullies. There were some really mean kids, but they weren't called bullies. I grew up in the time of keeping quiet; don't make waves. Although I was never bullied, the truth is that my driving force WAS personal, involving relatives I love. Now fifty years later, the anger still rises when I think of these incidents. I say, "Let it go, Carol." I can't. If they had happened to me, I could have made peace, but you all know that when cruel things happen to your loved ones, you want justice. You want someone to acknowledge that what he did was wrong. With so much information about bullying and what can happen to a bully, why are there more of them lurking? Maybe because it has taken on a new twist. Gone are the days when three would run down a guy going home from a date, beat him up along a roadside for dating her, and then brag to their friends (this happened often). The Internet and texting have become the roadside and much more difficult to police. It is a troubling time to be a teen, but even worse to be a parent because many parents are in the dark until it is too late. Right now, there is a young person in a bedroom unable to sleep, dreading daylight because of a few mean girls. There is a kid who hates to ride the bus because his backpack is vandalized daily. There is a child who will be teased tomorrow because of his appearance. There will be messages left on phones or posts placed in cyberspace that parents will not know exist. I worry for my grandchildren as they grow up. Even though some kids who were bullies in high school grew into good men and women who are hopefully ashamed of their past, most simply grow into adult bullies. In the workplace, escaping an adult bully is almost impossible. Haven't we all encountered them? Often a showdown is the only solution, but if a person's job is at stake, he risks losing his job. However, sometimes awareness will change things. Recently, I received numerous phone calls from the Kentucky Sales Tax dept. concerning a quarterly filing. Finally, I get a live person and we begin to converse. Actually, he began to converse, constantly interrupting me as I tried to explain that I had filed and that I had the cancelled check to prove it. As I tried to explain, he grew more and more condescending. A fire began to burn. Finally, I had had enough of his attitude, so I said very nicely, "Sir, you are being very rude to me." He grew quiet. Then he said, "Well, I don't aim to be." "Well, you are and I don't appreciate it." "I certainly don't mean to be rude, but sometimes I have to take things step by step and customers want to get ahead of me." Maybe he will nicer to the next person. I don't know what makes a person mean to another. I am no psychiatrist, but what I do know is that a bully practices on his siblings, his cousins, and his neighbors before he branches out. Parents need to pay attention. I don't know what makes a child a target. What I do know is that he has to be protected and most of all, he has to be taught at an early age to tell someone. Awareness is the only path to solutions. As for the month of October, I have an idea. What if every person who had been bullied by someone wore a shirt that said, "JOHN DOE bullied me in high school in 1964." Now, that would be awareness-and revenge. Of course, everyone would need a lawyer. Carol Perkins This story was posted on 2012-10-28 00:20:33
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Carol Perkins:
Carol Perkins: Special eligibles trip - IV, Home to Guy & Fluffy Carol Perkins: Special eligibles trip - Part III, Jamaica and more Carol Perkins: Part II: Special eligibles trip - on board the Conquest Carol Perkins: Special eligibles trips are all about Good Deals! Carol Perkins: Memories of Uncle Rollin (Oscar) Sullivan Carol Perkins: Neil Armstrong, a true American Carol Perkins: A week for Tv if you're interested in politics Carol Perkins the movie critic: Hope Springs a must see Carol Perkins report on how Yard Sale is going Carol Perkins: Chicken supper, literally View even more articles in topic Carol Perkins |
 
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