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There has been a lot of talk about the tolerances about bullying. Some places have started to enforce what they believe in is proper to stop the bullies from bullying people around. This all started because of a teenager that committed suicide and left a not that said that he couldn't take the bullying any more, also didn't name the bully he was talking about. I can honestly say that it is good that there is an attempt being made to stop bullies, however the reality of the whole thing is that people have always known that there were bullies around. In every generation there is at least one bully per classroom. The bad thing is that no one did anything about it then, and they think that they will do it now to ease their own consciences from not doing it before the teenager committed suicide. You can just think what I think of those people.
For those who came from smaller communities, it was usually the people in the schools that are repeating a grade for a 2nd or 3rd time that are the bullies. Everyone would know who he or she is, but no one did anything about him or her. I can honestly say that a couple of the guys that I have met up with in high school in grade 7 were repeating that grade. They were the bullies of that class and they were also the type of people that you didn't want to meet after school either. Right now those 2 bullies that I am thinking of are currently good people. They are still the type that you don't want to piss-off, however they have turned out to be good people after all. After the 3rd or 4th time of repeating grade 7, one of them dropped out of high school, and the other continued in high school and completed it. People have been saying that if bullies aren't stopped when they are in high school, that the bully has a good chance to become an armed robber, or something like that. The 2 guys I have been talking about didn't change their ways until they got girl-friends that weren't interested in bullying people around, that is when the bullies stop bullying people around.
Bullies only really have the power over people when either no one stands up for himself or herself or when people are paying attention to the bullies and want the abilities to control others like the bullies do. If you take either or both of those things from the bullies they are powerless to the rest of the people. There were many people throughout school that thought I would be the perfect person to pick on because I wouldn't stand up for myself. When I was in elementary school I found that the bullies were more interested in making people "cry" in front of everyone than doing any physical harm to the person. So in elementary school I found a way to block all emotions (mental barriers) that I could express at any point. When the bullies would come to me, after I started to block my emotions, they didn't have the ability to make me cry any more, so they tried to get me to fight them. When a bully loses an ability of his/her power over a person they will be frustrated and be finding another way (without thinking) to get his/her power back over that person. That day I went home with a cracked rib and a black eye. The school only suspended the person for a couple of days and then he was back again, the problem was that it wasn't a true punishment because at that age you are looking for a reason not to come to school. So all that the school did was give the bully a break from school so that the bully could think of a new way to torment everyone, and also to get back at me for not bending to his will (so to speak).
No matter how much people say that they are putting less tolerance on bullies, there will always be times that even the tolerances will be adjusted to allow some things go. Even though there shouldn't be any adjustments to that specific policy, there will be and cases of bullying will increase once again. Many schools that are in small communities do not have the proper resources to be able to have the bullying in the school to end. With the number of cuts that go throughout the schools now, trying to do anything about the bullying just gets lost in the shuffle. There is also the fact that the school boards have decided to combine certain high schools into one high school. In small areas one high school may have a grudge against another high school. A school board that deals with both schools has decided to combine those 2 high schools and also one other high school into one big high school. Now the thing that should be a big concern for the school board is the fact that 2 out of 3 of those high schools have been having a grudge for a long time, and the question is how can they truly say that it is safe to combine those high schools when they don't like each other as it is while they are apart. This just spells trouble right now, unless they are playing to have security at that school.
When I was in high school, there was always a little hostility towards another high school that was near to us. We always took our hostilities out on each other during a soccer or basketball game. We tried to keep it in a secure spot so that neither side went too far. A couple of months ago the current generation going through the high schools took the hostilities too far. One girl from one of the high schools beat the hell out of one girl from the other high school. Later on in the week the 2nd high school had a retaliation to the attack by the 1st high school. The 2nd high school had 16 people (with brass knuckles) attack the girl from the 1st high school and her boyfriend. In my opinion, that has gone too far and should never had happened. I understand the retaliation however doing the brass knuckles is too far. It is bad enough that the people were outnumbered, and half of them could have done the job just as easily without the brass knuckles included. A fight like this has just taken the hostilities between the 2 high schools to a new level, and the school board doesn't see a problem with joining them together. I think they need to look at the situation one more time before going ahead with any plans.
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