Rainy day Toughts about Bullying

Last week I read a news report about a family that is upset about the punishment that their child's bully was given. The article it recalls an all to familiar account of some sad kid bullying another sad kid. In this case the police were called and the bully "confessed" and was punished with 20 hours of community service, eight to 10 counseling sessions, and a letter of apology.

But, I'm a little confused. What exactly does this family want from the accused? I can empathize with how horrible it is to be on the receiving end of an attack like this. It hurts everyone in the family and many in the community and it is very hard to move through life when someone feels threatened and afraid.  On the flip side, the kids that torment others aren't just born ass holes. They too are in pain, thus the bullying.  They may not understand why they are doing it and for this girl counseling sessions seem like the appropriate course of action.  And as for the bomb threat, 20 hours of community service might be a little low, but that seems about right for a juvenile.  So what? What more does this family want? Any punishment this bully gets wont bring back their daughters leg or her confidence.

I think we need to really start looking at the bigger picture. Everywhere I go I encounter people who blame something else for why they feel so shitty.  In fact, for most of my life I blamed my father's early departure from my family for all the bad feelings I had.  Bullies have no voice except when bullying and the victims inevitably seek blood from their attacker. The Bully is rarely heard blaming anyone for why they bully but boy, is there ever a firestorm of blame from the victims and society.  Its the schools fault, or the police. The bully is a bad person or comes from a bad family. All these things we say to get away from the reality that we live in a hugely populated world, yet we feel so utterly alone because we have lost our sense of community.We don't care for one another anymore. We live with the mindset that every person is for themselves. I just don't understand what is so American about being polarized, but its the way we've become and I believe its will be the reason we fall. You can see it when one sad kid beats the shit out of another sad kid.