You know, it drives me absolutely insane when I read an article or watch a story about bullying or casual cruelty in school, because there's always that one parent or teacher who says something like, "We're making our children over-sensitive. They have to learn to deal like people like this outside of school, in the real world, so this is just preparing them for that." And it drives me insane because they're essentially saying, "These kids just need to accept that they're being bullied, and they'll be bullied their entire life."
Chances are, these people who are claiming the kids just need to "toughen it out" developed that mindset while they were in school. Whether as a bully, a victim, or a witness, most people today have been conditioned to ignore the casual cruelty of others and to allow bullying. Those who say it makes children stronger are just trying to find ways to justify their inaction. But the fact of the matter is, bullying results in self-esteem issues, which leads to any number of things: eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, suicide. And instead addressing the actual problem these people want to blame the victims and tell them to toughen up.
You see a lot of the same thing in rape cases. Like the Steubenville rape case, which lit up the media. A lot of people blamed the victim in this case, saying things like, "She had it coming because she got so drunk," or "She wouldn't have drank like that if she didn't want it." What kind of culture are we when we vehemently defend bullies and rapists like this? What kind of culture are we in which our children and teenagers think it's okay to physically and psychologically harass their peers? What kind of culture are we in which a group of teenagers can sexually assault or witness the sexual assault of an unconscious teenage girl, take pictures and video of the assault, but not think there's anything wrong with it?
This is one of many reasons I want to become a teacher. Because if there's a solution, it's going to start in the classrooms. All across America, we need to be telling out young people, "No, it's not okay to assault someone, physically or sexually. No, it's not okay to harass someone and make them feel like they don't deserve to be alive. No, it's not okay to see someone who obviously needs help and do nothing about it." We need to be better. As a culture, as a society, as a group of human beings in close proximity to one another.
So let's all be better, yeah?
