When I was a teenager, I got a gun. My parents didn't have them lying around the house. I bought it for $25 on the street. I had it in my pants at a movie theater when I saw one of my regular tormentors... [He] wasn't in the mood to confront me that night. If he had I was going to lure him into the alley beside the theater with the promise of a fight. Then I was going to shoot him. Michael Honohan.
The courage expressed by Michael Honohan in his essay, Shootings will continue until bullies are corralled is impressive. He wrote this revealing piece about a desperate time in his life in response to recent school shootings in San Diego, California.
Like many students in America, Honohan had been bullied and picked on by the in-crowd at school. As a 157 centimetre tall sophomore he was easy prey for the big marauding jocks, one of whom fractured his clavicle during a fit of rage.
For the purpose of this essay I would like to point out that Honohan could just as easily have been harassed for being tall, overweight, black, brown, female, physically challenged, homosexual, or any of a host of other characteristics rejected by in-crowds and their bullies.
His experience of being hung on a coat rack by a group of jocks saddened me, and I found myself pondering how mockery is allowed to flourish in so many aspects of American life. Comics are paid millions to do it. It has become an accepted practice, so much so that late night television talk show hosts actually make a good living doing little more than insulting others for fun and profit.
Young people pay attention to adult hypocrisy. That is to say, when adults pretend to be opposed to the intolerance and harassment carried out in schools as bullying and teasing but then practice it themselves in front of their children at home via long lists of personal prejudices and all the nonsensical intolerances that accompany them, young people see such grown-up hypocrisy quite clearly.
Unfortunately, there are teachers and coaches who see bullying at school every day who say nothing. Conversely, there are those who do speak up to correct the intimidator. The bully goes home and the next thing you know an irate parent is calling the principal, complaining that the teacher has harassed their son or daughter by singling him or her out. We should not be surprised that shortly thereafter, out of fear of losing their jobs among other things, many educators lose the determination required to correct student behaviour.
What amazes me is that immediately after each new school shooting rampage every manner of media routinely ask Why?. The root of the problem is as plain as day, yet they seem to think that the answer to that question is somehow hidden from intelligent view. It is no secret that the attitudes and behaviours of children are shaped by and based upon those of adults. What is being modelled to young people today? To be devoid of compassion and to be intolerant of others has become very popular in America.
The day after Honohan's essay appeared, a letter writer, Jorge Salcedo, replied: Just take a look around adults respond to traffic infractions with Road Rage, enraged parents attack Little League umpires when there's a 'bad call', and children are allowed to watch bloody wrestling shows disguised as entertainment... Take a look in the mirror; that's where your kids learn how to act.
While I am inclined to agree with Salcedo, I think that he does not take his point far enough. In a societal sense, the problem here in America goes a good deal deeper. The popularity of intolerance and lack of compassion that drives bullies also intimidates the in-crowd so that they, too, come to view as broken beyond repair those who bullies consider defective.
Where is the compassion in a state that hands down a sentence of death or life without parole? Where is the tolerance in rejecting asylum-seeking immigrants who are clearly fleeing from violent persecutions? Where is the humanity in blocking equal access to the so-called American dream? Alas, it does not matter whether the bully is in the school house, State House, White House or your house, that person is still a bully. Change is long overdue.
BY BRANDON ASTOR JONES
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA, or email <brandonastorjones@hotmail.com>. Jones is seeking a publisher for his collected prison writings. Please notify him of any possible leads. Visit Jones' web page at <http://www.brandonastorjones.com>.]