bullies

All posts tagged bullies

Adult Bullies…

Published May 2, 2014 by Angela

…Absolutely infuriate me. How can we expect our children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, friends and relatives to not be bully’s while we are so willing to give them perfect examples of how to do it? I have 2 children who are not allowed on Facebook or any other social media because of getting bullied and harassed.

Yet I witness online on a daily basis, adults being bullied. Whether it is through Facebook, quotes on online news sites, this immediate access we now have has changed us somehow. We no longer feel the need to mind our words, and watch what we say, especially when we are hiding behind a computer screen and no one knows who we are.

What happened to basic respect, being courteous, polite, and keeping your mouth shut? Is whatever it is you need to say going to benefit anyone else, or are you just being a bully? Are you intentionally saying something for the sheer delight of being cruel and getting a complete stranger riled up?

Shame on you! It is time to be good role models, act how we would expect others to act, treat people as you want to be treated.

And if you don’t have anything nice to say, then for Goodness sake, keep your mouth shut!

OK, I am done now!

Have you been bullied online? How did you handle it?

This Is Probably Wrong On So Many Levels….

Published December 20, 2013 by Angela

But I have literally been off from work for 8 hours, and am thinking I need to find a part-time job for 9 days.

I have never, never, in 21+ years of parenting, had to listen to girls fight as much as I have for the last 2 weeks. Unbelievable. The closer it gets to Christmas; the worse they fight. Yet they ask me: “Mom, can you put some more presents under the tree?”

Really?

I am about to return the ones that are already under the tree.

And go shopping for myself.

Honestly, it has been snowing here since Halloween, and I think this is going to be a long season of cabin fever. I have the best of intentions, and the smallest of patience. And the less patience I have, the more they fight. I don’t want to be home having my sleep schedule messed up. I want to go to work at 10 pm, and crawl into bed at 8 am with my earplugs, and eye mask, and “The Hobbit” blaring loud enough in the DVD to drown out my kids arguing.

I am soooo sick of hearing “stupid”, and “idiot” in my house that I can’t even discuss it. When did I become the Mother and Father to such rude children? They weren’t this rude last year, or last month. But I have become the parent of not only children who suffer from being bullied, but they are also the bullies; to their own sisters.

We will be spending every moment that our church is having service at church, and the rest of the time doing things for others who are less fortunate. Because my girls think they have it pretty bad; I think it’s time for them to see what pretty bad really is. It isn’t having to use the same back-pack two years in a row; it is not having a pair of shoes that lets you go to school in the first place.

 

When Did We Become So Mean?

Published December 8, 2013 by Angela

Since I have been up for hours (it is currently 5:45am) as is normal for me on weekends that I don’t work, I figured I would watch “The Sound of Music” which was shown live Thursday on NBC. Did I want to watch it? Not particularly. But the aftermath that went on from this live version really had me wondering “How bad could it really be?” So I had to see for myself.

I am not an actress; I have never been, or wanted to be. I have never been in a school play, a production of any kind, and the most I got in front of a crowd was for band concerts, one invisible kid in a crowd of kids. So I am not going to make any comments of what I feel the quality of the acting that happened during this LIVE performance was. And I will not write the names here of the previous actresses whom acted in the original movie version with Julie Andrews, as the various children in the movie. They do not deserve mention, and should wholly be ashamed of themselves.

What I would like to know, is exactly how many takes each one of their scenes took, because every single time they made a mistake, someone said “Cut!” and they got to go back and fix it. Time after time. After time. How would they have done live? Probably not so hot. But they would not have gotten bullied while they were continuing to act live on a stage knowing the whole world was waiting for them to fail. Hoping for them to fail.

“How dare you try to play a role Julie Andrews played!” “Almost painful to watch!” Really? Painful? What is painful is reading comments from a couple has-beens who are sitting behind an electronic device giving criticism on a role they never had to perform. I agree with Carrie Underwood that these critics need Jesus. Boy do they ever. They need a lot more than that. Would putting them on the other side of the fence make them understand? Not likely. Most bullies do not ever believe they have done anything wrong. Not all, but a lot.

Am I a fan of Carrie Underwood’s? No, I am not. I think she has an amazing voice (I can’t carry a tune in a bucket!) but I do not like country music. I am familiar with some of her songs; they are catchy and good, but I haven’t heard a song yet that has me going to the store to buy her CD. But that doesn’t mean I wish her to fail.

As a parent of a child who suffered through 3 years of terrible bullying before finally telling me the whole truth of what was happening to her, to what I went through for 3 years fighting with a young girl every single day to go to school; being threatened with court, jail, and fines; to having a homeschooler who is calm, content, and successful, I have to say, this display of public bullying really, REALLY pisses me off. (I just had to erase what I typed after that because it was not what Jesus would say, and I will not allow someone to turn ME into a bully too!)

I understand we live in a world of instant information, and I still can’t say that I think this is a great thing. When I was growing up, I could go home, not answer the phone, did not have a computer or cell phone going off non-stop, and could have peace and quiet. Now our children can be harassed 24 hours a day, and it is a very difficult thing to stop.

We can all be better people, and make better examples for others. We can each make a positive difference, if we choose to. Or we can be part of the problem.

Be a friend, not the enemy.

I want to be part of the solution. Who’s with me?