It’s been quite a week! When I first heard the bullying story, it resonated deeply with me, and I felt a strong urge to do something about it. So I blogged, twittered, emailed, and FB’d my brains out… but, as several days passed, questions arose. A lot of the mommies who originally heard the story began to ask questions, me included. We wondered why we weren’t hearing anything at all about it in the media, nor on the internet. And then the story about the Oklahoma bullying bill was relayed from the same source and many of us jumped on the bandwagon again.
There doesn’t appear to be any proof, however, that the assault on the 14 yo autistic boy ever happened. And it’s possible that the correspondence with Pam Peterson may not be genuine. Questions have gone unanswered, and we may never know what truly has happened in these two instances. I’m left feeling a bit betrayed, a bit embarrassed, and entirely disenchanted with the idea of jumping on bandwagons…
It occurs to me that I might want to be more careful, a bit less trusting. Ask questions first, join crusades later. The epidemic of bullying and violence sweeping this country is very real. It needs to have a whole lot of energy thrown at it. There’s no doubt that many, many kids are being terribly injured, physically and emotionally, through being bullied. I think it would be more effective and appropriate, however, to take up arms about the problem as a whole, as a carefully-thought-out response to the issue, rather than running around tilting at windmills as I did this week.
I’m a little sad, but I’m also a lot clearer on who I am and what I want in my life! I seem to have snapped out of victimhood and am ready to pick up the pieces of my life again. One of the things that this episode made clear for me is that I’m done running and hiding, and done seeing myself as powerless. My sister suggests that perhaps I’m ready to stop bullying myself!
