By Jim Bouchard
From TakePart.com…
“A Florida high school student made a stand against bullying and is now in the hot seat with school officials. For months, 18-year-old Stormy Rich witnessed a girl with special needs being bullied by her peers on the way to school. “They would be mean to her, tell her she couldn’t sit on certain spots on the bus…just because she doesn’t understand doesn’t mean that should be happening to her,” Rich told WOFL-TV.”
Hero, or just another round of bullying? Was she right to stand up and stop the abuse, or do you believe that two wrongs don’t make a right?
I say Stormy is a hero. She acted with moral and physical courage to stand up for that other student. Since when is telling someone who is perpetrating an act of agression to stand down considered bullying as well?
The world in this school district has definitely shifted off-access. More from the TakePart.com article:
“Rich says she reported the incidents to the bus driver and school officials. When they didn’t take action, she stepped in and confronted the bullies; but instead of being praised for her efforts, Rich ended up being labeled as a bully, and her bus-riding privileges were revoked. A spokesperson for the school district said, “Two wrongs don’t make a right” and that the girl with special needs never complained about being bullied.”
Even if Stormy was forceful and aggressive in her own right, responding to an act of violence with aggression is not an act of violence. Since bullying involves a disparity of power, there is no way that Stormy, acting alone against several other students, could be considered to be abusing a disparity of power and therefore she cannot be considered a bully.
As for the school’s assertions that the special needs child never complained about the bullying, that is simply the worst justification for their actions imaginable. Granted- it’s difficult to handle abuse when none is reported by the target. However, it is all too typical in these scenarios that the target will not report the incident or speak out against the perpetrators. The target may feel that doing so simply makes the situation worse, particularly when no action is taken against the bullies. She may also have feared retribution from her tormentors.
No matter- Stormy reported the incidents…several of them. The school chose inaction; she chose action.
It is not right to stand by and watch others abused and bullied at school, in the workplace or in the community. It’s not always appropriate to intervene physically, and it’s not generally your obligation to do so. At the very least you should report the incident. I just did a post on the THINK Like a BLACK BELT blog contrasting an act of courage in the recent Seattle coffee shop shooting with an act of brazen cowardice as a man recorded video of an assault on a Philadelphia police officer. He recorded his video on a phone he should have been using to dial 9-1-1. (Read the post “Courage vs. Cowardice” here.)
Too many people sit on the sidelines instead of confronting aggression, bullying and abuse. Too many parents train their kids not to get involved.
Stormy Rich is a hero.
Read the entire post by Jennie Inglee on TakePart.com here…
What do you think? Was Stormy a hero or did she just add to the cycle of bullying? Add your comments…
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I’ve been working with kids for nearly 30 years and I can tell you that if you do those 5 things, your kid has a pretty good chance of growing into a confident and competent adult.
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