Category: Bullying

Personal Poetry Challenge Day Thirty-Five

On By WinstonIn Bullying, Enlightenment, Personal, Poetry, Self AwarenessLeave a comment

A little bit of introspection led to today’s tale of woe and self-redemption. It’s all about self acceptance and understanding your own worth. Figure out for yourself who you are instead of just accepting what people tell you. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself and the sooner you do, we the better your life will be.

I Win

Back when I was a little boy,
I often felt quite bad.
I didn’t try I had no friends,
I often felt quite sad.

I wasn’t fast I wasn’t strong,
I didn’t get along.
And when I tried hard to fit in,
I’d always get it wrong.

I used to think that it was me,
Something inside was broke.
I thought that I would always be,
The butt of someone’s joke.

For many years I felt this way,
My worth was less than dirt.
I built my walls kept people out,
Saved me from further hurt.

It worked so well for oh so long,
Then cracks appeared at last.
I made some friends but trusted not,
Too wary from my past.

But still I learned that I was not,
Just what the world had seen.
There’s so much more but buried deep,
Where it had always been.

There’ve been some people in my life,
Who helped me understand.
That I am worthy I am liked,
Self loathing must be banned.

I have a wife who understands,
How deeply I am flawed.
And yet her love is so complete,
Self doubt should be outlawed.

At times it still will creep back in,
No matter my success.
That nagging voice from childhood,
Still cries out in distress.

But if I let it run my life,
I let the bullies win.
But that can’t be if I just know,
I like myself. I Win.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day Nineteen

On By WinstonIn Bullying, Discrimation, Enlightenment, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

I realize that I am part of that group of people referred to as “the chattering classes”.  I sit and write about all the things I see, but I don’t actually do anything to change them.  This is about me and all the others like me.

Enough To Make You….

I sat and read the news today
The world scrolling by.
Mans’ inhumanity to man,
Enough to make you cry.

The murders are quite bad enough,
The wars more horror still.
The famines, rapes, and plundering,
Enough to make you ill.

Anti-gay bills and rights denied,
More vile than they seem.
Enforced values on someone else,
Enough to make you scream.

What do I do about these crimes?
Like you they make me sad.
But just like most I do nothing,
Enough to make you mad.

So if you look around the world,
And find compassion lacked.
I hope the outrage that you feel’s,
Enough to make you act.

If you don’t like the news….. Change The World, Not The Channel!

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day:23 The Terribly Short Wizard

On By WinstonIn Bullying, NaPoWriMo, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

The other day, I was thinking that after NaPoWriMo I might like to write a short story. While debating what to write about I doodled the following phrase.

A Terribly Short Story About A Terribly Short Wizard With A Terribly Short Temper.

It became this poem. My 23rd for NaPoWriMo.

Enjoy!

The Terribly Short Wizard

Some time ago not very far
From where we sit right now.
There lived a wizard feared by all
But laughed at anyhow.

He lived there in a quite tall house
And wore the tallest hat.
For he, himself was very short
And more so when he sat.

His chairs all had the longest legs
They’d kneel to let him up.
So he could sit there eye to eye
If guests should come to sup.

But guests were few for few would dare
To risk the wizards wrath.
As it was sure to bring ill luck
To cross the wizards path.

He’d been laughed at for his shortness
Back when he was a kid.
He had been hurt that’s why he did
The horrid things he did.

If he could make them all afraid
They’d leave him on his own .
There’d be no one to laugh at him
If he was all alone.

So he lived there in his tall house
Alone and near forgot.
And came to know that loneliness
Was all his anger bought.

So when somebody laughs at you
Don’t let it change your heart.
You’ve all your life ahead of you
That hurt is just one part.

Cheers, Winston

Psychological Torture For Fun & Profit

On By WinstonIn Bullying, Media, Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Psychology, Society, Uncategorized, Values3 Comments

There is a program on A&E called “Beyond Scared Straight”. The premise is as simple as it is ridiculous. Troubled teens are forced to spend a night in an adult prison where it is the job of staff and inmates to abuse and terrify them. This is intended to deter them from their current lifestyle and steer them onto the “straight and narrow”. As part of this “process”, they are hand-cuffed, locked in cells with actual inmates, threatened and verbally abused.

All of this is based on “tough love”. This of course is a misnomer. There is nothing about this which is loving. It is a purely punitive act based not on love, but on fear. The larger issue has to with results. More to the point, the stunning lack of them. “In fact, a Cochrane review — the gold standard for evidence-based medicine — concluded that kids sent to Scared Straight were 68-71% more likely to commit crimes than those randomized to receive no intervention at all.” That quote comes from a recent Time article on the subject.

The truth is, there has not been a single clinical trial that indicated any positive results from any of the tough love style treatments for anything. None. Ever. Never.

Now I’m going out on a limb here and assuming the executives at A&E and the staff behind “Beyond Scared Straight” are not collectively stupid as oak posts. I know it’s a stretch, but I’m going to run with it. Based on that I’m guessing that someone looked at the results of Scared Straight and similar “tough love” programs and saw the massive failure rate. Why then did they go ahead and promote something so clearly delusional, damaging, degrading and downright stupid?

The word you’re looking for is Profit. That’s the motivator for anything that shows up on advertising funded TV. Not that I have anything against A&E making a profit. That is after all what they’re in business for. What I object to is teenagers being abused and exploited just to drive those profits. If there was any indication that such brutality has any beneficial effect it might be slightly justifiable. The opposite is true. This program of abuse, humiliation and cruelty has no measurable benefit and as such is nothing but reprehensible.

The other part of this equation is the fan base. Those who tune in week after week to watch these “terrible” people get a taste of what they can expect if they don’t get their acts together. They don’t know it doesn’t work. They don’t care. All they want is to watch brutal, Old Testament, frontier justice at work. They’re tired of the liberal wimps mollycoddling young offenders. They believe these kids need just this kind of wake up call. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. What these kids need isn’t more abuse, it’s less. They need years of counseling, therapy, training and all that boring, non-telegenic stuff.

Of course, there’s nothing in that to build a sensationalist TV show off of. Then again that’s probably not a bad thing. Not unless you’re the sort of person who enjoys watching psychological torture for fun & profit.

Cheers, Winston

Mayor Misses The Point On Abusive Bus Driver

On By WinstonIn Bullying, Personal, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

So a driver on an OC Transpo bus went off on a passenger.  The driver yelled, swore and threatened a passenger.  The passenger, who deals with mild autism was reciting a play he had written for a screen writing class.  He was at the front of the bus and apparently, the driver didn’t like the play.  When the passenger wouldn’t stop reciting, the driver became progressively more abusive.

The driver yelled, swore including repeated use of the “F” word and culminated in threats of physical violence.  Unfortunately for the driver but fortunately for everyone else, another passenger recorded the incident on her phone and uploaded it to Youtube.  OC Transpo is investigating.

I’m not sure what there is to investigate.  The driver verbally abused and threatened a rider on his bus.  There is a video of the incident.  Thousands have seen it.  These are my tax dollars that pay this uber-jerk.  I don’t think that’s appropriate.  I’ve dealt with some really people over the years, and I’ve never pulled that sort of crap.  The other ninety-nine percent of the drivers at OC Transpo put up with everything he does, but they remain professional and courteous.  he doesn’t deserve to be part of that group.  Fire him now and restore some public faith in the cities decision making process.

Which brings me to Mayor Jim Watson.  After offering his pro-forma apology, he said he hopes OC Transpo will share the outcome of their investigation.  Wait a minute!  Who runs this place?  Apparently not  our elected officials.  Seems like the it’s actually the bureaucrats and unions.  Makes me want to vote next election.  Probably for someone willing to stand up for the people who pay the bills.  You know.  Us.

The other gem from Mayor Watson runs as follows.  “People should govern themselves accordingly knowing most people are carrying cameras.”  What the hell?  How about this?  People shouldn’t verbally abuse and threaten other people because it’s wrong whether you’re being filmed or not.  To figure.  It’s wrong.  Maybe I should mention this again.  It’s wrong!

The head of the driver’s union responded to the incident by saying the witness shouldn’t have filmed the incident.  He’s apparently on the same page as the Mayor.  The problem isn’t with the psycho driver.  Hell no, the only problem they see is that he shouldn’t have been filmed doing it.  Thank you ATU president Garry Queale.

By your reasoning, the police who beat Rodney King shouldn’t have been filmed and held to account.  No one should record or report abuses of power.  It seems he and Mayor Watson would be happier if there was some sort of blanket amnesty for their pet idiot.  Fortunately for the rest of us, there’s no such thing.

Cheers, Winston