Bullying

There has been lots of conversation on the talk shows about the local anchor woman who confronted a man who sent her an email about her weight and called her a bad roll model for kids.

She used the show to respond to him and called him a bully.  I know that bullies have been around for many years and it has been a problem for kids, parents and teachers.

Many things have been tried to teach children how to respond to bullies.  Ignore, confront, physical response etc.  What I see today is a new venue for those bullies who want to remain anonymous.  Cyber bullying.  Facebook, you tube, email, tweets and texting.  It is still a huge problem.  One thing I see is that kids don't want their parents involved.  They try to keep things to themselves yet cannot handle the cruelty that they face.

My daughter was bullied in elementary school.  I felt so helpless because I worked at the school and I knew that if I did anything, the bully would take it out on her.  We finally decided the only thing we could do is send her to a different school.  That took her out of the situation but the scars were there.  She still remembers the feelings.

As a teacher, I tried very hard to teach my students that I was available to them and WOULD respond.  I taught my students that we were a "family" and it was important to take care of each other.  If there were social problems, we dealt with them right away.  I put the light on the bully without calling them bullies.  The fact is, they were also part of the family and they needed to be redirected and taught rather than accused and condemned. 

Did that totally stop the bullying?  No.  I only had one year with these children.  Some came back to me the next year with stories of bullying.  Some parents came to me with stories of bullying.  I tried to help them through this but it is harder when you are not the primary adult in their school life.

Back in the middle of the last century there was a wonderful movie, "South Pacific".  There was a song in this movie with the line, "You have to be carefully taught to hate."

Children are not born bullies.  They are taught through careless statements by parents, siblings, TV, movies, and other adults.  When they act out they are not redirected.  Sometimes they are encouraged or worse yet, excused.  Children have to be carefully taught to respect.  Remember, we teach by example first.  Our words will land on deaf ears if our actions do not support our words.

For those of you who are bullied or your children are bullied, Act in whatever way you can that teaches you or your child that you do not need to be held hostage by bullies, and teaches the bully that you will not be held hostage.

Bullies, unfortunately, are a fact of life.  The more we talk openly about it and expose the bullying, the less harm it can do.

Should Congress be fined for inactivity?

Given that the House of Representatives is the governing body that "creates" laws, a fine does not seem to be in the cards.  Since the Senate is the voting body, if it was proposed it would not be passed.

The present Congress was the least productive in the history of this country.  They became the congress of NO.  No compromise, no proposals, no laws passed, no nothing.  They became a laughing stock in the country and more importantly, the world.  The republicans refused to consider anything that was proposed by the President, the Democrats refused to consider anything that was proposed by the Republicans, the Tea Party refused to consider anything from anyone at any time for any reason.  If that is an indication of what we can expect from the Tea Party, please let the party be over.  The only thing they seemed to bring to the table was arrogance.

I would love to see voters actually look at the congress voting record and vote for those who actually did something constructive. 

I actually believe there are some members of congress who want to do their jobs and work for their constituents.  They should stay.  The rest should go.

This is supposed to be a government of the people by the people and for the people.  Someone PLEASE remember that.