I admit that when I was a kid I was constantly bullied. I remember a large group of individuals wearing black and carrying sticks that constantly threatened me, verbally abused me and often resorted to violence. But enough about the nuns.
All joking aside bullying has changed from the days of wedgies and pushing kids into lockers. The advent of the internet has created a whole new wrinkle to abusive behavior. I believe cowards sometimes hide behind a keyboard to spout their venom at the defenseless and as we all know, the internet is written in ink not pencil, and once something is out there it spreads like a virus and contaminates the sender, the recipient and the bystander in equal measures. Numerous cases have been documented throughout the nation of young adults who were subject to this horrid behavior and came to a bad ending. Right here in New Jersey at Rutgers University, we had one of the worst-case scenarios of bullying ever to be recorded anywhere, resulting in the death of a young and promising individual. Bullying comes in all forms, from the physical to the written word to the visual. The one constant is that just like our national policy of not dealing with terrorists, we are taught to stand up to bullies. There is a new awareness of responding to this curse and it is safe to say that there is strength in numbers. To that effect, on June 3rd, the Kidsbridge Museum will host its first Walk2Stop Bullying awareness event. It is a two mile community walk that will begin at the College of New Jersey’s Brower Student Center. Start time is 9:00AM and will run through noon. It is free to all and all are welcome. The more people are committed to eradicating the specter of bullying, the easier it will be for those who have been subject to this.
Remember this as well as you work toward the goal of cooperation and fair play with the youth of New Jersey. Often it is the bully who winds up working for the bullied. What you reap someday you will sow. Everything comes around. Let’s try to make that unnecessary.