A victim is a victim for many reasons. A bully has internal radar and can pick out the target for his antics rather quickly. Emotional and/or physical weakness is only one of the reasons that bullies use to harass and intimidate others. “A jury convicted Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, of hate crimes, witness tampering and other charges. Mr. Ravi used a webcam to spy on his roommate kissing another man in their dorm room. Tyler Clementi, the roommate, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge three days after Mr. Ravi viewed him on the webcam.” (Taken from the NY Times) In today’s world where our schools are truly a melting pot of many races, creeds, colors, gender preferences, and religions it is truly our job as teachers to help our students to not only accept the differences in others but to value those differences. Dharum Ravi was not held responsible for the death of Tyler Clementi, but was convicted of a hate crime. Mr. Ravi didn’t have the capacity to value the differences, he hated them. Teach tolerance and acceptance to your students daily and help them understand and value the differences in others.
Bench Notice
In a world of so many people of different races, religion, and beliefs intolerance is no longer just about teaching it to our student’s but adults need to learn it as well. The above tip about the Tyler Clementi tragedy was written in 2011. My question here is, have things improved in the area of tolerance and acceptance? Just harboring intolerant thoughts in our secret life is bad enough. But now, those intolerant thoughts have translated into actions. Some of which have been catastrophic in terms of loss of life and permanent trauma to the individuals involved. In a previous post I wrote about James Franklin, a high school basketball player with epilepsy who was openly mocked by rival fans at a basketball game.
Behavior like intolerance is learned and can be by osmosis passed down from generation to generation increasing in intensity as it courses through the mind and body of children; who have had the fuse lit by the explosive behavior of intolerant adults.
Gandhi once said, “It is easier to build a boy than to mend a man.” We have to start building more tolerant and accepting children. That may only come when adults change their own hearts, and minds and start valuing the differences in others.
