As a child I was deeply impressed by the story of the crucifixion of Jesus
as told in the Bible. I was moved when as the Roman soldiers were pounding the
nails into the flesh of Jesus, he was busy praying that God would forgive
them.
I thought of that as I've followed the story of school bus monitor Karen Klein, a 68-year-old grandmother who was verbally crucified and cruelly harassed
by a small group of middle school students, and learned that she is refusing to
prosecute these very disrespectful children and doesn't want to see them charged. (Punished, yes, though she isn't sure how; but that no doubt with any
eye toward character development and improvement.)
As Mahatma Gandhi reminded us: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is
the attribute of the strong.”
The cell phone video of this dastardly incident has gone viral on the
internet, or so I've read. But I saw it on the evening news. It broke my
heart.
Bullying is getting a lot of attention these days and has always been a
problem. It is a symptom of a sickness the human soul can become infected with.
Unchecked it can turn one back into a beast worse than our most ancient
ancestors.
The Huffington Post reports that Anderson Cooper devoted time to the Klein
incident on his Cooper 360 program. Two of the tormentors apologized. One
saying:
I wish I had never done those things. If that had happened to
someone in my family, like my mother or grandmother, I would be really mad at
the people who did that to them.
Yes, my cherished One Commandment - treat everyone else with the same
dignity and respect you would like to receive from everyone else. If we
all would do this everything would be so much better in this world.
Another apologized:
When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I
did that. I am sorry for being so mean and I will never treat anyone this way
again.
There is some food for thought for all of us there. Most of the time we
don't have the opportunity to see an instant replay of our baser moments in
order to reflect on ourselves at those times. At the end of every day we should
hold a mirror to ourselves, to our actions over the course of the day. We should
look long and hard and honestly. We should take stock daily if we are being the
people we want to think we are. If we are failing at this, we should dedicate
ourselves anew to the task.
How is it so easy to forget that we all are one? If you hurt your brother
or sister, you hurt yourself. Only the person who lacks empathy - or at least a
sufficient dose of it - can be cruel to his fellow man. Being self-centered in
natural enough. We live inside ourselves and view the world solely through our
own eyes. But to overlook the fact that we are all related is inexcusable. The
older I get the more firmly this truth takes hold of me.
5 comments:
Well, thank the tooth fairy that someone recorded the incident. Now a real teaching moment is available. Nice lady to eschew prosecution in favor of educational discipline.
Now how about the bullying of the poor by the rich oligarchy running this country? More subtle, and less likely to be addressed, as they can purchase the media and the politicians. Any efforts to remedy the situation is labeled class warfare by those who indeed are practicing class warfare. Enough, I gotta think of my blood pressure!
how true that we are all one. What we lack is love and compassion for our fellow man. When I pick my grandson up from elementary school I usually park my car and walk for about 30 minutes while I wait for the school bell. Some classes are on the playground while I am walking. One little girl in the 3rd or 4th grade will usually yell at me "hey old gray haired lady". I would love to yell back "hey rude little girl" but I just say hey and keep walking. This story sort of reminds me of that little girl.
@ Exrelayman,
I've thought long and hard about this, the rich ogliarchy that is running the country, that is. Problem is, they couldn't do it without the cooperation of voters who keep voting for more of the same. I don't think President Obama is likely to drastically change the landscape, despite his calls for higher taxes on the wealthy. Yet, I am told by my like-minded friends that we must vote for Obama anyway because he is better than the alternative of Romney, and the other "real" liberals running don't have a chance of winning and voting for them would be a wasted vote. In other words, voting for more of the same is better than sending a real message. And maybe that is so. The problem is, there are enough Americans who fear the government and therefore vote against their interests because of fear, or fear the Socialism bogey, and waste their votes anyway. Apparently there isn't enough fear of ogliarchy among them to move them to vote for real change. Revolution is always a solution, but not a nice, tidy one. The recent "Tea Party" movement was ugly, the occupy movement has stalled, and most Americans just want the good times to return, even if in the long run we cut our throats. I'm way out of the mainstream with my way of thinking and so I've lost interest in the process. My minority voice here in the very conservative south doesn't carry much weight.
@ Sylvia,
She's evidently too young to understand Karma. One day (if she is fortunate to have a long life) the rude little girl will be the "old gray haired lady." Wonder if she will be able to handle it with the grace you do?
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