Time Out for Clarification (cont.)

School Bullying

By Robert Ringer

Years ago, I remember reading one of those "space God" books that were so popular at the time. In one particular book (the title of which escapes me), the author theorized that beings from another galaxy landed on Earth thousands of years ago and (ahem) "seeded" the planet to produce the human species. Finally, after generations of trying to straighten out the mess they had created, the aliens concluded that the human race was a failed experiment and hightailed it out of here.

I don't know about the studs-from-outer-space part of the theory, but I don't have much of a problem with seeing the human race as a failed experiment. The unvarnished truth that few people are able to come to grips with is this: There are no perfect answers to anything. Chaos reigns supreme in the human world!

All that we, the failed Homo sapiens species, can do is try our best, knowing that black-and-white answers are hard to come by, and that we will always fall short of perfection. True, history continually demonstrates that our best isn't very good - but, guess what? It's better than not trying at all.

Which gets me back to the issue of whether anything smacking of morals should be taught in our schools. Let me make it clear that I do not believe schools should teach morals per se. I have simply singled out goodness, kindness, and compassion as three intertwined, foundational traits that I believe would go a long way toward dramatically reducing school bullying.

I realize that I will not change the world in any major way through my efforts. That's an arrogance monopolized by politicians and revolutionary leaders. But what I can do is fight for that which I believe to be in line with a generally accepted code of civilized conduct.

And maybe - just maybe - my efforts will make life a little more bearable for some children (and parents) whose lives might otherwise have been destroyed. And if, with the help of other likeminded people, I'm really fortunate, perhaps thousands - or even millions - of lives will turn out for the better. Wouldn't it be great if school bullying took a backseat to kindness and compassion?

What I'm saying here is that just because perfection is not possible does not mean we should not try to improve things. Whoever said that perfect is the enemy of good was right. When you make the mistake of insisting on perfection, you tend to lose sight of what can realistically be done. Which is why mine is not an all-or-nothing objective. What I'm focused on is making an intolerable situation better. I'll worry about perfection in another lifetime.

The idea is to get people thinking and talking about this subject ... fighting to protect bullying victims ... fighting to get both student and teacher bullies out of the schools … fighting to make "snitching" an honorable activity rather than an act that results in an innocent child's becoming an outcast … fighting to force schools to emphasize kindness and compassion, even knowing that there will be many bad people who will pervert their meanings and try to use them to inflict pain.

Every negative occurrence comes with one or more potential opportunities attached to it. When Seung-Hui Cho unleashed his bloody assault at Virginia Tech, little did he know that, in addition to the destruction he intended, there could be positive consequences as well.

What kind of positive consequences? Cho's actions can open our eyes ... open them wide enough to see how far the seeds that spawned his shameful deeds have been sown ... and then to do everything in our power to prevent as many of those seeds as possible from being planted in the future. The school bullying issue must be addressed in places far beyond the confines of these articles.

As you'll see when we get back on track in the next installment of this series, there are many more ways (in addition to teaching goodness) to prevent Cho seeds from being planted. Just keep in mind, at all times, that even though none of them will be perfect solutions, that doesn't mean they can't produce much better results than we're now achieving.

Previous - Part XII, Time Out for Clarification: One Step at a Time

Next - Part XIV, The Best Parent: The Welcome Mat

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