A lot will be said and written about bullying today much of it focusing on children and schools. I have no problem with that given that suicide is the greatest cause of death of young people in Australia. A very large percentage because of bullying.
But, I want to focus on adults. We can not ignore that children learn from others be that peers, or adults; parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, celebrities and leaders from every walk of life. Spend time on social media and you soon discover the disgraceful behaviour of those same adults and it’s getting worse. So is it any wonder childhood bullying is out of control? You don’t have to be Einstein to figure it out.
I had two friends who committed suicide because of bullying. They weren’t snowflakes as many online bullies delight in labelling others. They were intelligent and successful people who couldn’t take the abuse anymore. Unrelenting bullying destroyed them as people to the point they felt they had no self-worth.
When adults set out to bully others on social media, they rarely have any insight into the person they are attacking. Not everyone on the receiving end is an insensitive buffoon as those on the delivery end are. Often people have good cause to feel pain when they are bullied by others. It can be for as little as supporting an alternative opinion or being a different colour, a different religion or from another country.
The belief people just have to toughen up and suck it up only goes so far. When adults laugh at others who feel intimidated and then copy in their bullying friends on social media who join the so called party it can be overwhelming. I’ve been on the receiving end of that behaviour a few times. I won’t backdown to bullies but not everyone is me. Everyone one of us who frequents social media has a responsibility to speak up and demand it stops.
And, when you cheer on leaders in this case I will single out Donald Trump (as the example) who has made it a strategy to belittle, bully and attack others you need to ask yourself are you justifying his behaviour? How is that different from kids in a schoolyard mocking, bullying and belittling others? It isn’t. There can be no rule that says it’s OK for adults to bully but kids can’t or shouldn’t. It’s OK not to like someone or to disagree with them but it’s NOT OK to bully, humiliate, degrade and disrespect someone who has done you no harm regardless of who you are.
So on this ‘National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence’ by all means speak up about kids who bully but don’t you dare let adults off the hook. I won’t.
