Bullying, disrespectful kids are disgusting

Anna J. Fortenberry

  I hope everyone saw the segment on the NBC Today Show last Thursday.  If not, you need to try to find the YouTube video about Karen Klein, a 68-year-old bus monitor in New York.   Klein is a grandmother and a former school bus driver who is now a bus monitor on a busload of middle school children.   
  Middle school!
  A student took a video of a verbal berating she took over a 10-minute time span while on the bus recently, and it makes me sick.
  The unbelievably rude and disrespectful behavior is mind-boggling.   Profanity, taunts, bulling, and verbal abuse by pre-teens! 
  And all this is by a group of middle school boys.  It’s disgusting.  I don’t know any other words to describe it except that these middle school boys were disrespectful, rude, and hurtful to the point that the grandmother (mother of eight) was brought to tears. 
  One boy even told her she didn’t have a family “because they all killed themselves because they didn’t want to be near you.”  Her oldest son had committed suicide 10 years ago.  It was a comment that was especially painful to Klein.
  But to her credit, she held her tongue, and kept her cool.  If she hadn’t, I’m sure SHE would have been in big trouble.
  The video has now gone viral and “spurred international outrage.”
  What in the heck has happened to our society?
  I am constantly amazed at the lack of respect and lack of manners by children today.  And this goes from elementary through high school students.  Kids talk back to their parents, teachers, and almost any adult without regard for consequences.  Many – not all – have no respect for rules or even basic kindness.  It’s like we’ve raised a generation of barbarians. 
  I hope all parents will take the time to view this video and discuss it with their kids.  If you don’t have a handle on your children, please teach them to respect others and treat them with kindness – at the very least. 
  I know it’s hard to discipline your kids when other parents think it’s better to be a child’s “friend” instead of teaching them how to behave, but at some point we’ve got to get control of our children.  Can you imagine ever talking to your own parents with that kind of disrespect? 
  While grandmother Klein hopes this episode becomes a teaching tool and helps other people, she had one comment for those bullies… “I hope what goes around comes around.” 
  AMEN!

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