Bullies

So by now most people have seen or at least heard about the video of the bus monitor being harassed by what I believe are middle school students. Watching just a few minutes of it is enough to make you completely disgusted with children nowadays and their mamby-pamby parents. One of the Dad's was interviewed and he was pretty shocked that his kid was acting that way. I call BS. But then again, it might not be total BS since some parents operate under the assumption that their teen is the same kid they were in first grade, ignoring the fact that they probably see their kids for 30 minutes a day. Parents work, kids do after school activities and hang with friends and when they are home probably spend most of their time on the internet and/or with their iPods up full blast, so even if they aren't locked up in their rooms they aren't listening to you nor are they sharing any real thoughts with you. How is it that this parent could not see that this child was a little monster? Either he did not want to see what was right in front of him-and who would want to see evidence of their own obvious failure to sculpt a child into a decent human being?- or he never sees his own kid enough to see the warning signs.
I haven't seen anything from the other parents yet but I doubt any of them will shock me by saying "Yeah, my kid is horrible and needs to be disciplined." I would love to see those kids in little orange vests cleaning the bus for the entire next school year. Then they will get made fun of until they cry and they will realize that being a jerk is fun until you are on the receiving end of the horrible insults.
One nice thing to come of this is that despite the showcasing of the horrific nature of some people, we also got to see examples of human strength, restraint and decency. The bus monitor did not fire back insults or cuss the kids out, nor did she lash out violently. Instead she spoke calmly and maintained her dignity in a very uncomfortable and heart breaking situation. On top of her example, we have the generosity of the people donating to send this woman on vacation. Last time I checked, the donations-for which the initial goal was 5k-has reached over $366,700. This woman gets to go on vacation, pay of debt and who knows what else. So while she is chilling out wherever she wants to go, debt free and happily retired (I hope) those 4 punks will be nowhere. This video will follow them around for life and could perhaps show up at a job interview. These kids will not gain anything good from their actions and that is as it should be. The evil little brats should be punished with suspension, school service of some kind, no sports or fun activities at school like dances or pep rallies and no field trips and maybe even no more bus rides. These kids need to learn that you don't treat people like crap and get away with it. Maybe they can still be saved. But if the school and parents give them a little slap on the wrist you can be guaranteed that these kids will be at it again and so will others who will be assured that you can do and say what you want, even with a video camera rolling and nothing will happen to you. God, I pray that it doesn't go down that way because kids need to learn young that there are consequences to their actions. Right now their punishment would be tough for them but it is far lighter than life in and out of prison, which is the path kids like that are headed down unless someone does something to teach them a lesson now before they have done anything that can't be undone with an apology.