R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Sing it Aretha.

Unless your last name is Flintstone and you live under a rock, you've no doubt heard the horrific story of the teens/preteens that tormented the poor 68 year-old bus monitor. Not content with mere bullying, they recorded their assault, and then proudly posted it to YouTube.

Fortunately, the bullying buck stopped there. The video was spread alright, but spread due to people's outrage that children would treat an elder in this way. These boys called her names, cursed at her, told her they'd stab her, cut her, p*ss on her house and sh** in her mouth, they POKED at her, and generally kept up their spawn of Satan act till she was in tears.

If you think you can stomach it, you can watch it here:






I hope...no, I know my kids not only would never ever EVER do something like this, but that they would stop punks like those in their tracks if they ever saw such a thing.

But once upon a time, those kids were little babies in their mother's arms, too. Just like mine. Just like yours. What happened between then and now?

Not enough people told them no.
Not enough folks held them accountable for their actions.
There were too many people making excuses for them, not demanding enough of them. Not enough respect, not enough contribution, not enough compassion.

And God's going to strike me dead for saying such a thing, but I'm even including the poor woman being tortured, among the group responsible for kids like this. An adult. In a position of authority. Not making them stop. Not taking down names.

As a group, we adults bemoan what has happened to "kids these days." We've shaped them, and yet we're displeased with the results:

*They're overweight, and yet adults are the ones placing sugar-filled vending machines in the cafeterias and plopping chicken nuggets and french fries on their lunch trays.
*They're too sedentary, but it's the adults giving them all the electronic gadgets under the moon and stars with no limitations on usage.
*We encourage them to do their best, but we're sure to heap praise and medals on them for their "participation."
*We want them to pay attention in class, and study, but when they get a 72% on a test, we slap a gold star on the paper and write "Good effort!"
*We expect them to be polite and well-mannered, but don't hold them accountable when they're not.

We as adults need to demand more of our kids. We get lazy and tired and don't feel like doing battle, but when we don't, this is the kind of thing that happens.













(Quotes by Lori Berger)



Let's ALL of us adults make a pact that we WILL NOT TOLERATE this any longer! Teachers, principals, bus drivers and monitors, store clerks, security guards, health professionals, coaches, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors.

Let's expect more.

Let's hold them accountable.



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I'm linking up yesterday's post The Testicles Have Left the Building with the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop over at Life With Dogs today. Check it out!