Isolated Existence

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Bullying - Something Has To Change.

Karen Klein (bullied bus monitor) and Max Sidorov (indiegogo campaign creator) on CBC (Photo credit: k-ideas)

By now you all probably have seen the youtube videos with the bus monitor elderly woman Karen Klein, who was harassed by kids on the bus while on a trip. There are three videos, a total of fourteen minutes. I personally couldn't finish watching it. It was too upsetting! The level of disrespect, I mean one thing is to back talk another is to taunt and bully an elderly person. Even after she was crying they continued to bully her. It makes so angry when I think about it. I'm sure that some of what I'm feeling is because I have been treated that way (so has my son) as an adult myself by other adults, teens and children as well. I know too well how it feels.

If I was one of the parents of those children/teens I would force them to do volunteer work with elderly people for the whole summer. Monitoring them constantly so they won't treat them the same way. That way they will learn how to treat people with respect. No cell phones or internet for the whole summer either. It is a shame that she was being treated that way and no one else on the bus came to speak up for her. I understand that the bus driver has to pay attention to the road, but he or she had to have heard what was going on. Then again, like we say things happen for a reason. Maybe this was meant to happen as an eye opener for the rest of the world. At how bad things has gotten. How bad bullying has become and how us, as parents need to teach our kids that no type of bullying is ever OK. Something must be done about this. Laws must be put in place so things like this stop happening. That not even for the sake of a few laughs it is OK to bully someone.

Thankfully for Karen Klein, with the power of the internet and a good Samaritan, she will be able to take a well deserved vacation and can retire if she wants to. According to Gothamist so far people have donated 628,800! I'm so happy for her. Her daughter mentioned on an interview that she doesn't think her mom is going to return to her job. And I hope she doesn't, so she can enjoy the rest of her life with her family without having to worry if she's ever going to be treated that way again.

From the Gothamist: As for her tormentors, the 68-year-old Klein previously said she didn't buy their apologies—but this morning, she sounded a bit more forgiving on CBS This Morning: Saturday: "I'm glad they had to do it," she said. "I think—they're a little short. I guess I'll have to accept them. Because probably, this is as good as it's gonna get, if you know what I mean."

Asked about the sincerity of the apologies, she reasoned: "How sincere is a 13-year-old after they've done what they've done? I don't know. I hope they're sincere. I hope they have learned a lesson. And I hope they can go on with their life as a nicer person."