There has been another cry over the mountains for laws to get settled in place to dealing with the issues surrounding cyber-bullying.
New Democrat MP Dany Morin has brought forth a motion calling for a national effort to fight the problem before the House of Commons.
The idea of bullying is nothing new in any school, but now bullies have a 24 hour-a-day ability on the internet to attack someone who does not have the ability to get away from the onslaught, even when they go home.
Of course every case is different, but the attacks that happen do have a lasting effect in the victims’ lives. The question now becomes how do we as a society want to deal with this issue?
Blaming things on how easy it is to make a mistake online, or writing it off as something that is harmless, does not fly on any level any more. Yes, you can say something online in a much easier fashion, which makes a spur-of-the-moment mistake easier. We see this on many types of social media sites. The only difference seems to be that most of society is held accountable for what they say, and up until now, too little has been done to stop this specific type of harassment.
We have laws in effect which protect us against threats but when you are a child there is the alone-against-the-world factor?
I know when I was growing up being a fat kid, and I was big, it was not easy. Added to my problems was the fact that I was very shy and did not think I could stand up for myself.
I had to deal with bullies on a daily basis and if I could have figured out a way not to go to school, I would have gladly gone somewhere else.
Too many young people are trapped in a system which does not allow them to have any way to defend themselves. It is not reasonable to say just stay offline because the attacks are happening and will continue to.
Society has to change the mindset that this is all just a part of growing up.
When I was a teacher I would sit down with parents who would never accept that their “little angels” could ever be naughty.
Children are being abused on a level no one could have imagined 20 years ago.
The physical abuse of the past is now combined with a new level of mental abuse as well.
The time has come for both families and lawmakers to stand up and say enough is enough.
People need to understand what is happening and change, not only the laws, but also the mindset of society which has seen the bullying situation get worse over the years.
Many groups work hard to promote a safe school environment which does not condone these kind of attacks, yet too many times we are forced to see the failure of the system. Children who are being attacked need to know they are not alone and those attackers need to be held responsible for their actions.
Understanding why something is wrong is the first step to recovery.
High school is not the be all and end of life. So many great things happen after you leave Grade 12.
Hopefully soon everyone will realize just how important an issue this is before anyone else has an unnecessarily tragic end to their story.
