THE TORMENT OF BULLYING

The torment of bullying...bullying in the Schools

Originally published in Newsday: November 19, 2010, p. A37

by Andrew Malekoff

In a Ray Bradbury's short story "The Playground," a father tried to protect his son from the horrors of the schoolyard. He wondered how childhood could be considered the best time of life, when it was the most "barbaric time when there were no police to protect you, only parents preoccupied with themselves and their taller world."

I admire the courage of the four kids - Gavin, Maria, Jake and Sam - who gave voice to their experiences in a Newsday story, "In their own words: Battling the bullies," Nov. 14, 2010. I wonder what the consequences will be for them, for publicly revealing their suffering and the powerlessness of adults to protect them.

We all know that the boundaries of the schoolyard now extend into people's homes through cyberspace, virtually obliterating any sense of sanctuary that children once found in the evenings, on weekends and during the summer.

Bullying is intensified today by a broad decline in civility. We live in a world of grown-up people who do not think twice about trampling personal boundaries through rude, intimidating and obnoxious behavior.

If we cannot turn back the hands of time, we can at least slow down and teach our children, after we remind ourselves, the importance of putting a reflective pause between impulse and action.

Editor's note: The writer is the executive director of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center.