*Warning: this post uses mature language and frank discussion to explain an important issue. Reader discretion is advised.
We’ve all gone through bullying in our lives. Whether you are the one receiving the torment or the one giving out the torment, I am certain that everyone has had an intimate experience with bullying. It’s an experience in life that everyone goes through and learns to deal with. But how far is too far? We often hear complaints about the teenage population in our society for being stupid and reckless (doing drugs and having sex at an early age and whatnot), but when did it go as far as Grade 7 pre-teens taunting a 68-year-old bus monitor until the point where she starts to cry?
Karen Klein is a bus monitor from Greece, N.Y. who was taunted by four Grade 7 boys who constantly bombarded her with insults. They repeatedly degraded her appearance, calling her an “ugly fat ass” and when she started to cry, one boy cried out that she was sweating since she was such a “fat ass.”
Warning: the following footage is disturbing.
[youtube E12R9fMMtos]At one point, one of the students involved said to Klein, “You don’t have a family because they all killed themselves because they didn’t want to be near you.” As mentioned by MSNBC news, “It’s unclear if the boys knew Karen had a son that committed suicide years ago. After driving Klein to tears, they were still relentless.”
It’s interesting, the fact that four 13-year-old boys were so heartless. The reason why most of us find this video hard to watch and endure is because what the boys are doing is against our conscience. Our moral compass generally tells us that the degrading of an elderly widowed woman till the point where she is crying is a bad thing to do. It gets people wondering just why these children started speaking this way to someone who does not appear to deserve it. There is an idiom which reads “Sticks and stones may break my bones (but words will never hurt me).” It basically means that no matter what people say about you, they can never really hurt you, but I believe that this situation shows how wrong this idiom really is. The issue with verbal abuse is that it doesn’t leave physical evidence. Many people like Klein tolerate this silently without much of a chance to fight back. If her video hadn’t gone viral, there wouldn’t have been a way for her to gain support and bring attention to the kids to tormented her.
Even so, not all hope is lost. After the video of Karen Klein’s suffering went viral, a campaign was started to help fund raise for her retirement and vacation so she doesn’t have to face the torment any longer. Canadian financial contributor Max Siderov set up this website to support Karen Klein: http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein
Two of the four students have also sent Klein an apology, but she did not accept it because she did not feel they were sincere. The kids have yet to face any charges, but Klein has stated that she does want the kids to be punished. But how should their actions be dealt with? Should the school take action or should their punishment be left up to their parents?
So what are your opinions on how the students involved should be dealt with? Leave some of your opinions below.
I say restorative justice is the only way these teens will learn. The Virtues Project is the answer. Very well written Jellyfish. Excellent use of Blog space. These teens need to learn about their true value and then and only then they can restore Karen Klein.