Bullying In America – Opening Pandora’s Box
May 19, 2010
PART ONE
There are many events occurring in our society that have caused us a great deal of uncertainty and shaken our faith in mankind. Our great Nation has developed a pattern of rushing to judgment, in an attempt to prevent further incidents from taking place. In this three part series, “Bullying In America—Opening Pandora’s Box”, we will delve into the overall concept of what it is to be a bully; discuss how the behavior might develop; and consider some questions that may enlighten us on our quest to prevent the negative behavior.
As a society, in general, we believe that we have evolved into a very civilized way of dealing with each other. If we have a disagreement that we cannot resolve equitably amongst ourselves, we have the option of using our legal system to reach some type of conclusion to our differences. Our highly defined legal system includes conflict management steps that can begin with mediation and can conclude in an actual court of law. This entire process is supposed to be fair and based on the facts and/or merit of each case; however, this process more often than not, becomes muddled with differing political viewpoints, and the creative verbiage that the opposing counsel throw at each other in the courtroom to sway the Judge and Jury.
Our children have learned to bully by the fine examples we have set as adults. I submit to you that each child is a smaller version of the parental unit that is in the household. Some adults have left playground bullying and moved into the courtrooms, across our great nation, to continue their games of intimidation and oppression.
Every Nation on Earth has a grand history of intimidating and oppressing other people. This is probably an ugly part of the human condition, as a whole, that can be discussed in another series. If this is indeed a part of the human condition, then it is our free will and civility that allows us to be more accommodating to our fellow humans.
One interesting component of free will is that we must first realize that there is a reason to change. We must understand that there is a better way to resolve the situation. We must also accept that sometimes we will have to agree to disagree and move on to life’s next challenge. Otherwise, we open ourselves to a never ending flood of anger and resentment that in turn create the need “to bully”.
There is a fine line between harmful behavior and a harmful reaction to that said behavior. The environment is often times the deciding factor in how an individual will react and respond. An individual’s environment includes their support system, i.e. family and their beliefs and/or perceptions surrounding each event. An individual’s feelings of self worth must also be factored into how they may react. There are many instances of harmful behaviors that result in harmful reactions. It is a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to place the blame solely on the party initiating the harmful behavior.
