The Bullying Disease

My children nieces and nephews.. For them I seek the cure!

As parents we always want our kids to have a better life than we had. We pray that they will have diseases cured. We pray and hope that something unattained will be achieved, so that an accomplishment of their generation will go down in history. Yet there is one "disease" that seems to elude the realm of human cures. This disease does not give a fever or coughing. It doesn't cause your eyes to itch or burn, but it is the most painful thing that can affect ones life. It is called bullying. My own son has endured this age old illness. I have found that one of the worst symptoms of this disease, is not from the kids who taunt and tease, but from the apathy of parents who have bullies for children. Do not mistake my words, bullying is a terrible act. Any child who suffers from it has emotional consequence of some sort............ I have encountered a strange breed of children,ones who seem to be immune to the ability to bully, or at least according to their parents, this is truth. Our children are our greatest asset. Ignoring the truth about our children's behavior is a disservice to our title as "parent". If we deny that our child can ever do something wrong, we teach them that they are doing right. Children who bully as youth with no consequence, become abusive adults.


We would never sit by and watch a man beat his wife, or a woman beat her child. When this happens we feel the need to stop the action right away. As a world, we need to deal with bullying with the very same manner. Kids all over the nation are expressing their pain in adult like ways. They are using guns, drugs, and violence of many kids to let the anger they have out. This kind of condition is the only disease of humanity that is %100 preventable. People may argue that teasing is a natural thing, or that words don't really hurt, but words have driven many of our youth to violence that is unspeakable.

A woman I know called me to offer support for my son. She told me that when she was young, people called her and her brother "Cavewoman" and "Caveman". People would actually talk to her from her school about the Cave woman, and not even know that was her. I personally had been hit, kicked, choked on the school bus, and called every name new and old that meant "fat". I spent three years as an adult doing drugs to try to cope with the years of abuse I had endured. Then, I was graced with a pregnancy. It snapped me to attention that I had to come to care for myself. The labels I had built in my mind as permanent, were not mine to keep any longer because someone else was depending on me. I had to look at myself with new eyes for the life inside me, who would soon be someone else.. That someone else is now hurting.

After 7 years of intense and terrible teasing, my son had popped. He has hit rock bottom asking me what is his purpose. I stared with telling him about the healing he brought into my life. I have never made any of my bad choices a secret to my kids. I want them to learn from my life. This though is more complicated then that, it will take along time to heal these wounds. Many times healing begins when someone acknowledges the things they have done wrong. As long as children are not held accountable, they have no idea they have done wrong. If they see no wrong they have nothing to apologize for. As these kids get older, the types of things they do will mature with them. Name calling "poopoo head" grows to names that cut very deep such as "slut or whore". "Gross and yucky" grow to "worthless and stupid" It grows from there. "Harmless punching" becomes bruised eyes and cut lips. Pinching and scratching, becomes burns and cuts. It grows. As a culture There is only one sure remedy. We have to come to care about the conditions our kids are dealing with. We have to come to admit that our kids can be harmful others. Even if it seems innocent, it it in need of our immediate attention.