A little over eight month ago, my sister gave birth to my beautiful niece. It was one of the happiest days of my life thus far. My niece is no doubt one of the best things to happen to me. She's helped me mature in ways I didn't know possible, she's made me smile on my worst days, laughed until my stomach hurt and I learned to appreciate every moment I spend not only with her, but with everyone. But as I watch my niece grow up and I watch or read the news, I become fearful.
This is one of the cruelest societies I think the world has ever seen, and the children being brought up in it don't deserve that.
Every time I turn on the news, or go on Facebook there's some kind of terrible break news. Suicides, terrorist attacks, homophobic incidents, children being excluded for nothing or because of their disability, among many other things have become second nature to our world. These terrible incidents don't even phase the media anymore. It's just another every day headline they report on every day.
A recent headline really snagged my attention; A 13-year-old boy from Staten Island ended his precious young life after facing relentless bullying at school, where teachers did nothing even after his many cries for help. 13 years old. So young, and new to this world. The fact that he experienced such horrible torturing, that would force him to take his own life after such a short amount of time on this earth, is simply horrifying and unacceptable. And the fact that teachers and administration did very little if nothing is wrong. But, he's not the only one. Every day kids are taking their life, other people are taking others lives because of heir religion or their sexuality or for no god damn good reason at all. Parents don't let their children go places alone in fear that they could get kidnapped, bullied by other kids who aren't supervised, shot or who knows what else. People are afraid to express their true feelings because those like them have been publicly shammed and ridiculed for it. And those teachers and administrators aren't the only ones turning a blind eye towards outreach for help.
When did we allow such crazy, horrific, traumatizing things to take over our society?
And are we doing anything to stop it?
Sure, we have those "anti-bullying" campaigns once a year in schools, a day or week, maybe an entire month dedicated to identifying what bullying is, what to do if you see it, and how you can stop it. Sometimes everyone even signs a pledge that says "I will not bully others and I will help stop those who continue to bully." But just like all of those "I will not drink until I'm 21" or "I will not use drugs" promises we all signed in middle and high school, it's not effective and it's definitely not a pledge we stuck to.
We need to somehow change the last few generations mind sets. We need to stop traumatizing others, and idolizing those are putting others down. It only boosts their confidence to continue doing it while tearing apart the victim laugh by laugh. We need to stop murdering or hurting others because they have different views than you do. We need to stop the bullying. We need to stop the hate crimes. It just all needs to stop.
So as I watch my niece grow up, I want to keep her in a bubble. Keep her away from mean souls and terrible people. I want her to remain that same loving, happy kind little girl she is now. I don't want her to face the trauma other kids face now, and I sure as hell pray that she does not grow up to be one of those who traumatizes others. I can only pray that sometime in the next few years, sooner rather that later, we can finally grow up as a society and learn to accept one another and learn how to tolerate those who are different than us. That's my greatest wish for my niece - for her to grow up in a world where we're not afraid she'll get traumatized for her views or her differences. If any of my life wishes were to ever come true, this is the only one that I would want to happen.
