Enough is Enough
March 19th, 2011 by winna | Featured BloggerBullying is a big issue and has become more and more of an issue in recent times. As such, the campaign to stop it has been ever increasing. My heart aches to all those victims of bullying that have taken their own precious lives away. Bullying must stop and I thank (though some won’t, I know) Casey Heynes for being a poster boy, though under unfortunate circumstances, on this issue.
Above is a video capturing Casey Heynes, a kid from Australia and victim of bullying, being punched in the face and stomach by a scrawny kid. Casey decides he’s had enough and picks up the kid, body slamming him to the ground.
Am I advocating violence? No. Am I advocating self-defense? Yes. In this case it was, and unfortunately it got a little out of hand but Casey is just a kid. Understanding self-control and knowing what the boundaries are is hard when you’re a kid. Casey reacted out of natural instinct and pain, pain that had been inflicted on him time and time again. As a martial artist, I can go on and on about how Casey could have had more self-control and not have hurt that damn punk so badly but really I don’t give a damn. That coward bully deserved what he got. Casey is twice his size and obviously capable of defending himself so what was that scrawny kid going to expect if Casey were to retaliate?
For those of you that say Casey should have take the “high road” (whatever that means) such as call on a mediator, I say that is total baloney because mediators do squat or rarely anything significant at all. I know this from personal experience. If mediators and schools are so good and well-equipped to handle these bullying issues, then tell me, why are there are so many kids, victims of bullying, taking their own lives? Fortunately for Casey, all this was captured on video but what if it wasn’t? Most cases aren’t. What if Casey had done nothing, got punched in the face and taken what some people call the “high road”? I’ll tell you what will happen: nothing. Okay, maybe that kid would have received some sort of slap on the wrist but Casey would have continued to be bullied, perhaps even more for telling someone.
Again, I’m not saying a kid shouldn’t tell someone if they’re being bullied because they should. More importantly, they should also have the right to defend themselves first and foremost. In my experience and knowledge of bullying issues, our number one defense is ourselves. I sound hopeless in relying on others because essentially I am. I have next to zero faith in the schools or whoever to help all those poor kids out there being bullied. Schools have and are useless when it comes to dealing with bullying issues in my opinion. Children are often stuck in these terrible situations, confused and helpless. Casey did the right thing.
Simply put again, Casey defended himself. He defended himself to the best of his ability through a reaction completely justified due to the way he had been treated countless times. Bullies are cowards and will continue to be unless you stop them. Casey did that and good for him. Casey sent a message and that was: Enough is enough.
March 19th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
The problem of bullying is obviously more complicated than it appears, which is why it’s so difficult to deal with. Retaliation or self-defense can be an answer and it has been an answer on a much bigger scale in the case of the Middle East today (Egypt, Libya – I know it’s a gross oversimplication of the situation).
Yet, on a personal level, from kid-to-kid or person-to-person, there’s a lot more to consider. Bullies can be seen as mean and intimidating people who want to make yourself hell. They can also be seen as people who are insecure about themselves and therefore need to inflict suffering upon another to rid themselves of their insecurities. We can see bullies as a*holes but what if these people are suffering in another aspect of their lives? What if they’re being abused at home or elsewhere? The problem with mediators is that they’re seen as a cowardly fix to the problem, however, a teacher telling a kid to stop doing something is not the solution. Either that or it’s a short-term solution to a larger problem. Rather than just saying stop bullying, I feel that a mediator is needed to go into the root of the problem. Ask why the bully is being horrible because, after all, the bully is human just like the rest of us.
March 20th, 2011 at 10:58 am
It’s unfortunate that sometimes the ones who are bullied get even more victimized by the school authorities and other students. I have seen that happen especially if they act out in self defense and happen to be stronger than the other kid in question. Bullying is not only something physical as in this case, folks who do work toward ending bullying should target physical, emotional and cyber bullying.