In case you don't know, Jennifer Livingston is a News Anchor with CBS WKBT out of La Crosse Wisconsin. Jennifer received an email from a viewer (in which they admitted they don't watch the show regularly) that I find ignorant, lacking in social grace and downright mean.
I myself was a victim of bullying up until I was 18 years old until I just simply moved away from it all. By bullying I mean out right nastiness. I CLEARLY remember as if it were yesterday and I was in 6th grade. At the time, I was very overweight, had a "poodle" perm and coke bottle glasses that were tinted blue on the top and blush on the bottom. It was recess time and all the classes were outside. The "head" bitch decided to "rally the troops" and the ENTIRE 6th grade lined up on one side of the basketball court and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to me. I was mortified and ran home from school. I don't think I returned to school for days. The school's stance was the kids were just having fun. Hhmmm, fun? There are so many more instances some worse than that and some just a little more subtle. Mind you, this was in the 70s (yes, I am 45) so the schools at the time didn't want to "get involved" with these kinds of issues. My bullying took the form of words, physical damage to property I had and at times even physical damage to ME. I missed school, got terribly sick to my stomach even thinking about having to go to school and avoided people as much as I could.
Fast forward and I see my son in middle school. With the internet, cell phones, and all the Social Sites I see bullying happening EVERY day. It isn't just the kids either. I see adults bullying people on line and it makes my skin crawl. As Jennifer so eloquently puts it in her video - this is a "learned" behavior. I am not mad at the adults but more sympathetic towards them. They obviously have learned this throughout their life. What concerns me most is their children - they will most definitely pass this on to them and thus the vicious cycle will continue. Such is the case with Jennifer Livingston - this was adult to adult. No doubt like someone I grew up with in the 70s and 80s that never had their ass handed to them by their parents or someone in a position to tell them to fucking stop it - it isn't right.
I implore you to take 4 minutes to see Jennifer's video that she so bravely share on air. This truly brought tears to my eyes and gave me goosebumps. I LOVE YOU JENNIFER LIVINGSTON!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing up and speaking out against bullying!
