Welcome to My Life

I’ve been asking to think about the Rutgers tragedy, the topic of bullying in all its forms, and it has left me a little cynical of the human race, but not terribly so. Politics has already done that.

I have never been bullied. Sure, insulted, but there wasn’t a time when I wasn’t on my feet ready to end a fight. My brother was bullied, and always had been. He didn’t inherit as much of my dad as I did. I was always confronting people for him, telling them to back the hell off, because no one messes with my family. And they did. I guess it was a case of big bad senior against kids younger than her. So I understand bullying from a standpoint that isn’t in the situation. But I have my opinion on the Rutgers case, and bullying in general.

Show me world peace, I’ll show the end of bullying. We can talk about it, try to start squelching the epidemic. But it won’t ever be fixed. It won’t bring the kid back from the dead. What will help, is charging that boy and girl with murder and seeing how they like it then. At the very least charge them with manslaughter, and then slap them with prison time. Is it too harsh? Is it too harsh to punish them for costing a kid his life, and his parents their son, and his friends their friend? What that kid did (in civilly asking his roommate to leave for a bit) was totally normal. This kid overreacted by videotaping a very personal moment. While the kid’s sexuality was a factor, I think that even a heterosexual couple could have had problems. Not all parents are aware of their kids’ sex life, and it could cause some serious problems, as it has in my life. A girl from a Catholic family could have been taped having protected, premarital sex, and she could have just as easily committed suicide. By all means, still charge them with a hate crime, but I believe that it detracts from the real fact: that he was bullied by two kids whose humor really wasn’t all that funny.

I do not look at this from the standpoint of a parent, or a friend, but someone who has an understanding of legal procedures. Slap them with committing a hate crime and manslaughter and see what reaction you get. Those kids will understand the depths of their actions, and the boy they bullied will be avenged.