Soft as Cotton

So let’s talk about one of the buzz words that our society is becoming infatuated with "Bullying". I can hear the ooo's and awww's already... To be bullied is a terrible thing; it can create a myriad of disorders and anxieties towards life, people, and social environments.  This damage can often last deep into adult hood and the victim may never recover.  No one deserves to be treated with disrespect or tortured for what they may look like, not have or believe in. 

But with that said we are absolutely doing the youth of today a disservice with all of the coddling and pampering of the situation that is taking place in the media and school systems.  You know what a bully is... a bully is an opportunity, an opportunity for that child to fight through adversity and stand up for whatever it is they are or believe in.  We should not be damning those kids that put themselves in a position of power due to unseen issues, no; we should instead be empowering those that may fall under the bullies reign.  We should inform those victims of bullying that this is the way life will always be if you continue to look at yourself as a victim, we should inform them that they have the power to stand up to any all things that may try to oppress or put them down.  We should not give them the idea that when things get tough and you feel like there is no way out that the world will come to your aide, which just isn’t true.  In life you are going to be placed in situations where no one will be on your side but you and it is up to you to have the inner strength to persevere. A bully is nothing more than an opportunity to conquer one of life's many obstacles.  

We as a society are getting to the point where we are producing some of the softest generations known to man.  I don’t know who came up with the idea of political correctness, you can’t beat your kids, no child left behind, SOL's, everyone receives a blue ribbon and a million other concepts that have proven to be counterproductive.  Nothing teaches greater lessons than pain and failure and we are legislating that out of our youth’s upbringing and it is serving to produce unfit, mentally weak adults.  My generation and the ones prior all went through certain things that made them the productive adults they are today, yes it may have been difficult and ugly at times but look what it produced.  So why would we go to such great lengths to divorce our youth from the same adversities that made us who and what we are today?  I’ll never understand it.