October 6, 2010 - So bullying and cyber bullying has been front and center in the news lately due to a spate of suicides and number of new campaigns to draw awareness to this issue. The comments to the articles I've read seem to come down to three basic camps: the "parents should step in and solve the problem" camp, the "kids should grow a pair and learn to solve their own problems" camp, and the "kids should give it a try, but definitely reach out for help if the situation is not improving" camp
I think fall somewhere in the last camp, myself. However in all of the articles I've read, something disturbing seems to be missing. The experts say that technology makes it easy to disassociate the effects of our actions from the action itself (the example used was "I kill people in video games and nothing bad happens in real life") and the focus has been on trying to draw a correlation between the action and the effect in the real world. The question I feel like is being ignored is this:
Why aren't people teaching their children to have respect for themselves and others at all times and not just when they are face to face? I understand that children have brains that aren't fully developed and that the connection to cause and effect isn't always there, but what happened to "treat people how you want them to treat you"? Maybe if this was the lesson we were teaching school children, instead of trying to reason with them about how their actions have effects on others that they might not understand (or indeed have any way to control), we should be teaching them how to comport themselves with more dignity and respect in all aspects of their daily lives.
Just something I've been thinking about this week. Have a good one!
Bullying In The News
Update Central!
March 23, 2010 – Update central!
· Justin
Things are going very well! So well in fact that we moved in together at the beginning of March. We’re still working on getting the two apartments crammed into one apartment that we can actually live in, but so far the process has been successful and the end is finally in sight. I don’t think Justin shares my goal of having a working guest bedroom in time for the next houseguest we have, but I think we will probably be able to work something out.
· Avon Walk
My mother is walking with me this year! I’m very excited about that and I’m looking forward to getting to spend the time with her. She’s started a blog to keep updates on her training walks: www.nancysnewyorkwalk.blogspot.com We’ve got to raise $3,600.00 between us, so place feel free to click the link at the top of the page and donate. We appreciate any help you can give and there might be prizes…
· Theatre
Intimate Apparel was fun and a great experience. We go to meet the playwright, Lynn Nottage, when she came to see our show. That was very exciting. More importantly, my dad and Richard got to see it, my mom got to see it and Andy got to see it. I don’t think that many important people (to me anyway) have made it to see one of my shows in….well…ever. The downside is that I don’t think I will be doing much if any theatre any more. Stuff happens here in the fall and winter and that is when things at work are super busy and I need to focus on the stuff that actually pays me because…well, I like buying shoes and I need money to continue doing that.
· Work
Has been absolutely crazy. I worked 11 hours days a couple of times a week for a while there and that was rough. I did finally get an office and that has helped with actually pushing through projects and getting them done during normal business hours instead of having to stay late to avoid getting interrupted. We are opening our third office in San Francisco next Thursday. The anniversary of the company and my anniversary with the company is next Friday. After three years we have three offices in 3 cities, we went from 3 people to 15 people (tripling our staff) and our revenue is on track to triple as well. That’s a pretty major accomplishment for us and we are completely awesome!
· Vacation
I have no idea what this is although the concept sounds good.
· Birthday
Coming up soon – faster than I expected. Dallas will be in visiting from her world travels and that will be nice to catch up with her – hopefully we’ll have a bed for her to sleep in. Donations to the AVON walk on behalf of my birthday will be met with cookies, contact me for details!
