Home › Forums › General Chat › Where I go from ticked off to incredibly touched.
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June 20, 2012 at 10:58 pm #30874
I don’t post much here, but all afternoon, I’ve been following a news story that some of you may have already heard about. I’m from CNY, and my local news covered this story tonight as it’s situated pretty close to home. I saved most of the ranting I did for my walls and Facebook, but I guess I wanted to post it because the more people hear about it, the better. Plus, I admire the advice all of you give, and I know your reactions will align close to my own. The people and the site keep my faith that all the crap I see people do daily that drags us down isn’t all there is.
The following link is to the news article. I will warn you. It has video attached, and I only got through about 42 seconds of it before I had enough. It involves bullying, which, as we know has gotten massive, overdue coverage as of late. However, the bullies are kids, and the victim is an elderly woman.
http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=767593#.T-KISbVDyrk
I was so angry this evening, reading about the things that were said to her. I wish I could say I was shocked. I’m not. Kids ARE this cruel today, and they have no respect for anyone. They just simply don’t care. My nephew, whose parents are very attentive and pretty strict, is going to be entering junior high/high school this year, and I hope that all the examples of good behavior he’s been raised with will prevent him from becoming like those kids. But, even kids with good parents do thing their parents couldn’t imagine when they don’t think they’ll get caught. So, I just cross my fingers and hope.
But, after all my anger, I followed a link in one of the comments on the article to a man who started a donation to give this woman a vacation. Needless to say, his hopes were surpassed and the donations are amazing. So, while I have fears of the future because of kids like these becoming more and more plentiful, the great part of humanity gave me a little hope.
Now, I will slink off into my lurkdom once more. Thanks for listening.
June 20, 2012 at 11:08 pm #30879Don’t lurk! Stay! I followed this story and I too got a little leaky eyed. I have a huge soft spot for old people and I can never imagine speaking to someone who has seen so much in this world that way. I am so happy that this woman will get a nice vacation and hopefully more, she definitely deserves it. I love stories like this, they really do make me feel like I belong in this world and it’s not so changed from when I was little. I can still remember when it was okay not to lock your doors and it’s okay for 4 year olds to ride bikes up and down the blocks with no supervision and come home with only some knew scratches.
June 20, 2012 at 11:09 pm #30880knew = knee.
June 20, 2012 at 11:23 pm #30884God I hate teenagers. Minus a select few examples, most of them are such little shits. I just imagine my mom in this woman’s shoes, and it makes me cry.
June 20, 2012 at 11:38 pm #30887I HATE stories like this where vulnerable people are preyed upon!! I understand where you are coming from but don’t get sucked into their negative energy. My daughter is a teen and although there are plenty of complete punk assholes, most teens are just normal kids living their life. They don’t stand out with their normalness so all we “see” are the obnoxious ones. It’s like toddlers in stores, you notice the tantruming ones but not the happily content quiet ones. Most people are good and decent, or at worst just neutral to their fellow human beings. Don’t let this group of assholes damage your faith in others.
June 20, 2012 at 11:46 pm #30888I think a lot of what made me so angry was that I WAS picturing my mom while reading the story. My mother has been a Special Ed Preschool Assistant Teacher for about…*calculates* 28 years. She started the job with the association she works for because my sister is mentally and physically handicapped, and that association helped our family with a lot of services and therapy. When she started, most of the kids she worked with were Down Syndrome kids, Cerebral Palsy, and others with a variety of mental retardation diagnoses. When I was a teenager, they opened the preschool to accept typical kids in order to increase funding so they could still offer services to the handicapped, and it was part of the inclusion push.
Now, the kids just scare her. They’re 4 years old and sociopaths. I wish I were exaggerating. Most of the students have behavioral problems, and a lot are now being diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The behavioral students (most of which have parents who refuse to admit their kids have problems!) do things like: Encourage sexual behaviors in classmates, call their teacher’s pussies, proudly proclaim they’ve stolen things, and have literally threatened the life of some of the teachers. Granted, they’re 4 year olds. Some of these types were 4 year old, sixteen years ago, and are in the papers for crime. Some of these kids are from disadvantaged homes, but quite a few are from what would be considered “good” homes. Quite a few have professors for parents who declare their child is going through a “stage.” Some stage. How come I didn’t go through that at 4? Kids run things now, not parents. Sad, but its true.
I’m 32, and I sound like an old lady when I talk about my childhood. I feel like there was a point where sense just was thrown out the window, and I even asked my mom when that happened. She couldn’t pinpoint it.
But, teenagers and pre-teens? I don’t know. I have, for years, regretted not becoming a teacher like I had intended to. But, now I realize that I just could not have handled it. I don’t know how the teachers in my family do it. They’re saints to me. The kids in that video reminded me of the brats I run into at my job. I work in a neighborhood store in a small-ish city. I throw them out. I call the cops on them. I get called names. I watch them pick on the mentally handicapped, and make messes like it was their room. You call them out on it? You call the police? They can’t do anything. They’re minors. And, you confront their parents? More often than not, THEY yell at you. Their precious kid could NOT have done that. Ugh.
But the people donating to give that lady a vacation? They’re awesome. The original goal was $5k. Last I saw, it was nearing $90k. Hopefully, she’ll never have to see those damn kids again.
June 20, 2012 at 11:50 pm #30889Ah, Wendy, I’m sure your daughter’s great, and I know I’m overgeneralizing, but there are so many kids that just have this attitude. Like, why would anyone think it’s worthwhile to make someone feel bad about themselves? And the problem with the whole high school mentality is that the mean kids are in charge, so if someone like your daughter were to say something, they’d be turned on in an instant. Notice only maybe 5 or so kids were actively being cruel, but the rest sure didn’t try to stop them did they?
Anyway, it’s pretty amazing to see that over $90K has been raised so far. I’m glad people want to give this woman something good.
June 20, 2012 at 11:54 pm #30890Another Wendy: My nieces, nephew, and the other kids in my family show me that hope isn’t lost. I know a lot of good teenagers in my life. Their parents are amazing. They disciplined when it needed to be done, supported the kids when they needed it, and have good kids. I guess I’m disillusioned because I see so many examples where the good kids with manners and sense are a minority. Granted, I’m from a poor, rural area (we’re the big city in the county), and some of what strikes poverty areas strikes here. I know some kids can’t help that they were born into crappy situations. I hope, above all, that they can break the cycle.
Brief example: A lot of people I grew up with and in my age range were taught that when you went into a store, talked to an elder, etc, that you say these words: Please and Thank you. You act polite. Even as a teen going into a store with my best friend, I used my manners. If I didn’t, I’d probably be read the riot act when my parents found out. Know how many teens actually use those words to me when I’m working? Maybe one a day, and that’s a good day. Even something as basic as that is missing. Just makes me sad.
June 21, 2012 at 12:00 am #30893June 21, 2012 at 12:00 am #30894These photos all made me cry too. I guess I’m a sap today.
June 21, 2012 at 12:22 am #30897Okay I watched the video again and cried. Ugh I hate people.
June 21, 2012 at 7:49 am #30905That video made me so angry too. But um, why didn´t the bus driver say anything? Also, if that had been me, I would def. have left the bus. I´ve been bullied and I know that in that situation it´s really hard to react, but I stopped taking crap from anyone once I wasn´t a teenager anymore. It was of course not her fault that those little shits were being little shits, but I wonder why she didn´t take any action, even afterwards she didn´t tell anyone.
June 21, 2012 at 11:00 pm #31090I can’t wait the video of those kids bullying the old lady. I saw a clip of it on the Today Show and… it was too sad to watch. @Rachel, some of those pictures had me in tears!!
June 21, 2012 at 11:28 pm #31092I just saw this on the news like, 2 minutes ago! This makes me so mad. Who do these kids think they are?? I, too, think of my mom and grandma in her shoes and that makes me feel really sad. I am so mad for this lady, and the simple cruelty of these kids makes me sad for the future. What happened to simple respect? I’ve never said stuff like that, to anyone.
But on the positive side, the news said that they have raised $400k for this woman! That warms my heart.June 23, 2012 at 11:59 am #31311Did y’all see that they’re up to 650,000!!! I mean clearly 40% of that will go to the government for taxes – but still – she could maybe retire with 400,000!
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