Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

COLUMN: No time for a bully

I recently read about the death of Ken Rex McElroy. If you are unfamiliar with the infamous case, McElroy was a notorious bully in a small Missouri town who had for years harassed and committed some pretty horrific crimes against local residents.

In 1981 he was murdered in broad daylight with numerous witnesses.

While everyone knows who committed the crime, not one person was willing to come forward and testify because it appears everyone was happy with what transpired and it didn't look like law enforcement was pushing the matter either.

This was an extreme case, but unfortunately there are bullies all over the place everywhere from school to work or social settings and it is time for society to really step forward and do something about it. Enough is enough.

I'm not an expert on anything, especially psychology, but do enough to know that repetitive bullying can really mess someone up emotionally. I'm not going to come out and say that bullying can be a direct cause of school shootings, but it certainly plays a role. That being said, this isn't just one or two days of picking on a kid. We are talking about years of abuse.

Schools across America do the best they can, but there is so much that teachers, staff, and administrators don't see. Incidents that happen in a bathroom, before or after school, at recess or in between class often go unnoticed. Because of this, it is really time for parents to sit with their kids and share the dangers of bullying and how it is just a stupid way to act. Some kids are going to be different, and while I'm aware we don't live in a snow globe where everyone is a friend and skip around the playground together, it doesn't mean that people shouldn't tolerate each other.

And if the parents may have been bullies growing up, it's time to officially grow up and not teach or encourage this type of behavior. Bad behavior can sometimes come out of the blue, but I've heard stories of the children of people that were bullies at my school growing up and it doesn't surprise me at all. Just because you were a jerk doesn't mean your kids have to be.

I was bullied during my first two months of living in Whitehall. It was at a public event and should have never let it happen and have stopped a few more attempts, but it still irritates me adults act like this.

Making a change is also going to require kids to step up. While it would be great if the kid that was bullied could stand up for himself and whack his antagonist in the nose, this doesn't always happen. There is nothing wrong with not getting physical with someone who is attacking you, and this is where other kids need to step up and defend those in need.

A few weeks ago, students across America marched out of high school to protest about gun laws. I also saw people suggesting that rather than to walk out, they should go up to a kid that has been bullied and to be nice. I know there must be mental illness that can play a role in a school shooting, but I don't think kids would have to march out of school to protest guns in people were just nicer to each other. And rather than just be nice to the kid constantly picked on during the day of a protest, be nice to the kid all the time.

These are just some ideas how I think bullying can be deterred, and I hope people around the Country can start to have similar dialogues with not only among themselves, but also as communities.

Every kid in school is special person, and they should be treated that way.

 

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