For the past few weeks my attention, along with other stuffs, as usual, has been captured by a project initiated by Anderson Cooper called "The Bully Project". I don't know if he really did start this movement to end bullying in American schools, but he seems to be very vocal about it and when someone like him starts something, it will become big.
Bullying in the US has become such a deadly epidemic. Oprah has had aired several episodes about it, portraying kids who commit suicide because they suffer harsh name-calling to physical abuse or kids who feel like crap because their peers tell them they are worthless, and how it effect their families as well. And all these take place in SCHOOLS. Seriously, people. This is just unacceptable. Just figure it out: our children spend 8-10 hours in school every day for 5 days, which means 1/3 of their social life happen in this formal, educational institution. If it's not safe anymore, it means that our children are scared for 40 hours a week, and that means they are scared for 2,080 hours a year. Now say, if a bullied child spend 12 years in school, that means 24,960 hours of fear. No wonder they choose death at early age.
What's annoying me so much about this is that bullying happens the most in the US, a country which always boast on becoming the world's No. 1 human rights police. They invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, meddling in other people's business, when such a terrible thing is going on steadily in their country. They should just pull their armies from other people's land and assign them in schools because these bullies, even though they are under age, can be very lethal.
Kids have that tendency to be mean. They can be intentionally, although unconsciously, cruel. This goes to show that the seed of evil dwells inside us, in each and every one of us. But school is a place where the government sends adults with degree to stop the manifestation of evil into devil. So for me, it's unforgivable if these adults cannot supervise children's interaction. I know that teachers and school staffs cannot be around all the time to watch, but they can get help. Technology is there to use. It's all a matter of diligence, initiative, and goodwill.
Bullying worries me a lot. Even if it happens in the US. I can say 'screw you America, you got what you deserve', but the thing is, it happens to the kids who do not deserve this. Moreover, the biggest concern is that since the people of my country are big on American culture, I'm just afraid that this rotten cult(ure) will be imported to our schools as well. American teenage movies are showing in national tellies every day, giving ideas to kids about 100 ways to bully a friend, ridiculously convincing the viewers that even though you're victimised, things will get better and you will live happily ever after. I'm just afraid that then our kids here think that it's okay to bully or to be bullied because in the end you will still get the girl and go to Harvard. But in reality, the life of these young victims are over even before they get to dream about Harvard because they're too busy trying to survive.
I hope the US, with all those great people living and working there, will make bullying a history. In the past, they have succeeded in bringing slavery to an end, so I'm optimistic. And I hope that outside US, this will never become a national-scale issue, ever. So let's stop it here, now, today. If you see bullying around you, say a word, do something, tell people. And if it happens to children, do all that, only louder, bigger, better.
Go to "The Bully Project" to support anti-bullying movement.
