Bullying... Read This Or Else! Part Two

 I’ve struggled these past few days with how to follow up on the bullying.  I certainly don’t feel comfortable detailing every blow.  However, this blog is my word, my life, and I promised myself to be as honest and forthright as possible.

Thus, I’ll begin with that it happened and it hurt.

I guess you can say that Sean was lucky to be blissfully unaware of what was going on.  He didn’t understand.  He didn’t know.  In fact, he even tried to make excuses for them. 

I’m sure he thought he was protecting “his friends” in some way.

I witnessed every ugly moment of it and yet stood by for the majority of it in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” tug of war.

If I say something then I am somewhat “coddling” my son and therefore, it will be taken that my son was indeed bullied due to my own actions.

If I don’t, then I stand by and watch the world’s cruelness set upon my son.

I stood on that edge and muffled every internal motherly instinct that I had.  I justified it by telling myself that boys will be boys and Sean will learn from this.  He will figure a way out.

But he didn’t.

And when I could stand it no more, I came up with Plan B and got Sean involved in another activity.

I hoped that it was over.

When it happened for a third time that night, no amount of Fort Knox security could hold the mother in me back.  I said my piece.  We finished what we had to do.

And then we left.

Was it cowardly of me, to run like that?  Did I just give in to the bullies?  Did I let them win?

I can say “No” but I believe that the world would think otherwise.

But I ask you this…

How long do you stay in a situation that is not healthy simply to prove a point?

You can’t argue with ignorance.

I used to try.  I would say to myself, “If they only knew….”  I would try to educate them.

However, ignorance is something completely different than “not knowing.”

People who don’t know things but who want to know… They ask.  They listen.  They try to understand even if they can’t.

People who are ignorant simply believe what they want and no one, not even the highest regarded expert in the world, can change their minds.

They don’t want to know.

Worse yet, they don’t care to know.

That’s sad, don’t you think?

With education, you change the world.  You change who you are.  And you change how you function in that world.

Empathy comes from education.

There is nothing from ignorance.

Nothing.

Bullies, and the people who support them, are ignorant.

For Sean and myself and for the future, they will mean as much as they are worth.

And that is…

Nothing.