My Thoughts on Bullying

Quite honestly this is a topic I may speak about frequently. It is like a small rubber ball that bounces around inside of my brain and it can change direction at any given moment. The change in direction represents my shift in feelings about bullying. But one thing never does change and that is that I do not tolerate bullying. Not just to myself, to anyone at all really. But what does constantly change is my approach at how to deal with the issue. Sometimes I feel like I need to speak directly to the source. Sometimes I feel like its best to do nothing. Today I was caught in between.

The thing is, I was bullied myself as a child and teen and occasionally I still am today. However I take bullying a lot different today than I used to. I know better now. And most of the time now if I'm being bullied I can recall all of my past as a whole and it doesn't seem so bad in the present. But not a lot of people work the way I do. What works for me might not for the next person. 

Today I was faced with another person I know being mercilessly bullied over social networking. It was disgusting and my heart felt for this person. But no matter how much I desired to help them I still felt powerless. Why? Because this bullys mother was instigating her child. As a new mom myself, I will blatantly say, I find that repulsive. 

I would move mountains if my child was ever being bullied, yes, but what about if my child was the one doing the bullying to another. Would it ever be justifiable? The answer is no. And by me saying that, society takes a very small and possibly unnoticeable win. It is never okay to let your child bully someone or to be on their side while they do so. 

We as human beings should know this, it should feel morally wrong. But we all too often ignore our morals today. How many super hero movies have we watched and how many more do we need to watch to know that good will always overcome bad? How many times do we need to be taught that lesson? We may not be super heros staring in a feature film; we are real people, and we are effecting society through a ripple effect. So in a way, it's almost as if we are each a small part of a super hero. An arm or a knee cap. And when many of us do the right thing at the same time we are taking a big swing at an evil villain together. 

The problem with society today is that too many people are doing bad things together. There's more villains than there is heros. Sometimes mean girls grow up to be mean women and they have children and they teach them that it's okay to be mean as well. Maybe not intentionally sometimes and typically not as toddlers or small children, though some do. And we can't change that because when it comes to changing others, we are powerless. But when it comes to changing ourselves, we hold all of the power. 

We can be super hero moms who are proactive about our kids behavior. We can influence them to be kind and we can encourage them to be productive. Sure, some are harder to get through to than others but it should never be from lack of trying. We have the power to make the generation that our own bodies are creating a better one in the tomorrows. 

I will be a super hero mother. When I am caught in between what is right I will take that as an opertunity to show my children the power of goodness. I will never justify my child bullying another person. Just as much as I would never justify my child bullying your child; if you have any as you read this. And if we each did the same for each other, this problem that is ripping through our children's hearts will significantly decrease. I'm asking anyone at all to feel the same as I do. Do what you can, what is in your power, to make our world a better place. If not for us, then for our children.