National Bullying Prevention Month

Hello Simply Nerdie Community Welcome to another blog post and an opportunity for you to chime in on the subject matter of bullying. We are still in the month of October which is National Bullying Prevention Month across the nation. We at Simply Nerdie know it is a good thing to have a whole month to highlight the impact bullying has on society as a whole and individually. Like many holidays we celebrate or recognize once it’s over, no one really keeps it in view instead it fades away like yesterday's news. Lately we’ve had a lot of distractions, and some people may think there are bigger problems to focus on like the wars going on between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas and other countries chiming in from the sidelines. If we can hit the pause button for a moment and reflect; what we do know is “little bullies” grow up to be “big bullies” if no intervention or correction is taken. I say this as the wars going on are a type of bullying that has morphed beyond terrorism. It’s bullying on the world stage and everyone sees, hears and knows about it. Women, children, the elderly being impacted with fear, homelessness, starvation, threats of death (many lives have been lost), and hospitals are attacked. There are millions of Bystanders, and no one wants to tilt the scales of justice or try to intervene, just don’t get involved, look the other way or just don’t know what to do. Having said the above, last week I came across a few major news channels talking about “bullying”. I was hoping they would be giving some new stats on bullying and interventions. I was very disappointed as they were not referencing bullying in the schools or workplace. Instead, they were referring to our government shut down, behind closed doors regarding the “Speaker of the House” replacement. Bullying was taking place behind closed doors. It was quite shameful to put it mildly, to hear that grown men and women who are supposed to be mature adults bullying each other. Well, I guess that went out the window and it was back on the playground with the tougher kids picking on those who weren’t as outspoken or confrontational. At this junction I would say bullying is very toxic and we must work harder to eradicate the short- and long-term effects of bullying wherever it takes place. It takes a village to address the impact of bullying. Peace out. Shanita