Kids bullying turns monitor into millionaire.
In case you were sleeping or doing whatever and missed it, a bus monitor was bullied by a group of middle school students and the video was posted on the internet. Watch here. It was a sick and disgusting display of children gone wrong. Totally unacceptable and should never happen anywhere and to anyone. Many people were touched by the video and it prompted a fund to be set up to raise money to send the monitor, Karen Klien, on a well-deserved vacation. So far, donations have reached over $650,000.
Well, what kind of blogger would I be if I do not put in my two cents worth? What do I think of the matter? I commented sometime last week that Karen was obviously in the wrong line of work. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it the bus monitor’s duty to crack down on this kind of behavior on the bus? What if they were bullying another kid instead? What would have been her reaction? Apparently, she told the news that she has a hearing problem and didn’t hear much of the taunts. Thank goodness and bless her heart. She didn’t need to hear some or any of those taunts anyways. But if she couldn’t hear most of the insults, would she have heard them if they were directed at another kid on the bus? See where I’m coming from?
Now about the money. Money soothes everything, right? Wrong. The problem is still not addressed. Yes, she might have a nice vacation somewhere but how about the bullies? Would they find another victim to prey upon? Is this it? Sending money to a victim of bullying does not send a lesson to the perpetrators. It does nothing to ease the pain of the other faceless victims around the world. So I am not really sure that giving almost a million dollars to Karen Klein was the right thing to do. I realize it was probably a knee jerk reaction to a video showing a sweet woman being bullied. I do agree with sending her a plane ticket to a destination of her choice. As I stated earlier, in my view, it is the job of a bus monitor to address any unacceptable behavior on a school bus. If a group of school kids were to bully a police officer, would you be inclined to send financial aid? If not, why not? Because they are paid to deal with this sort of thing, right? Bullying is bullying though, no matter the age or sex or job description of the victim.
I know this take would not be too popular but I would not be sincere and fair to myself if I pretended that I felt the opposite. Saying this, as a parent of kids that I love dearly and also having an autistic brother, I am against any and all acts of bullying whether against children or adults who are incapable of defending themselves. We as a society, should do as much as we can to fight this plague.
Instead of giving Karen Klein $650,000, wouldn’t it make more sense to donate it to Anti-Bullying Programs? Awareness? Bus Monitor Training? Bullies Rehab? Now that’s what I’m talking about.
Karen Klein, God bless you and I am sorry you had to go through that.
Just my take.
Related articles
- Don’t Take That Money, Bullied Bus Lady (gawker.com)
- Carrie Goldman: Bullying on the Bus: Solutions and Analysis (huffingtonpost.com)
- Should Bullied Bus Monitor Keep All Her “Vacation” Money? Man Behind The Donation Campaign Weighs In! (AUDIO) (radio.foxnews.com)
- http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/karen-klein-fund-raises-nearly-650-000-where-202028566.html
