Like domestic violence, bullying is no longer accepted as a consequence of growth, as a normal phenomenon. Today it is typified as antisocial behavior, which should not be tolerated and even less ignored, for the simple reason that the price of ignorance is too high. As it was, for example, for the family of Hamed Nastih, a 14-year-old who committed suicide in 2000 by jumping off a bridge in Canada. This young man wrote a letter before he died detailing the torments he had suffered at school; Among the pejorative terms they applied to him were: “four eyes”, “big nose” and others that attacked his sexual integrity. In 2004, in Spain, Jokin, also 14 years old, took his own life after suffering physical and psychological abuse from his companions for a year. A very high price as it was undoubtedly also for the families of the young people involved in the Columbine tragedy.
From our perspective as parents and teachers, these extreme cases force us to open our eyes to situations that are happening under our own noses but sometimes fly under the radar line. Dr. Dan Olweus from Norway, who is the pioneer in the creation of programs for the prevention of school violence, harassment, harassment or ‘bullying’, explains that a person is victimized when repeatedly exposed to negative actions from other people. We can, from there, define school violence or harassment as any action by a student that causes pain to another student. In order for us to distinguish between an act of bullying and a normal fight over a ball at recess, there must be an imbalance in the relationship and a deliberate intention to do wrong in the bullying. However, the common variable that underlies any act of violence is marking the difference between “them” and “us”.
The only girl on the soccer team or the only boy in dance class, the one who wears braces or glasses or is very tall or very short or very fat, anyone who is perceived as different can be a victim of violence because prejudices and intolerance pave the way for him. But perhaps the term that best describes harassment is ‘bullying’, derived from ‘bull’ (bull in English), because it gives a graphic dimension to the way some young people go through life: attacking or attacking whoever happens to them in front. For the French a ‘bully’ is a ‘brute’ and a ‘despote’. In German it is a ‘tyran’.
Bullying is a very old social phenomenon that, like domestic violence, was ignored or assumed as normal. It was seen as a growth ritual that strengthened character by enduring abuse. In both social phenomena every day new elements of knowledge are incorporated to prevent them, but the most important thing to combat them is social rejection. We know that in the United States every day more than 160,000 children stop going to school for fear of bullying. We also know about the physical consequences of bullying, conditions such as headaches, stomach and back problems, and academic ones such as absenteeism, dropping out, and poor school performance. So for now I invite you to ask your children, nephews or friends, about what is happening to them in schools. Maybe they are surprised. Maybe they decide to join this fight.
Source: http://www.esteticaysalud.com.ve
