I like to watch a little morning "news" (i.e. The Today Show, or GMA) while feeding Zoey in the morning and today two stories caught my attention.
The first was about a boy who along with several friends taunted and bullied a 67 year old bus monitor, video taped it and posted it to their facebook page. I won't repost the video because I don't think that's helping the situation, but their remarks were cruel to say the least.
Cary and I were outraged. A 13 year old should know better. At the very least the 13 year old should know better than to post a video on the internet! We discussed the downfalls of society and why children think bullying or being rude in general is ok, but we had more fun coming up with a punishment.
If that were our child.... first, the facebook page would be gone, right along with internet privileges. Then we would make our child (and probably his friends if I knew the parents) apologize on the bus to everyone who rides the bus for what they had to hear, followed by a ride to the bus monitor's house where our child would be forced to deliver an apology note as well as a verbal apology. We also decided our child could spend the next several weeks researching the effects of bullying and offer to give an assembly in their school.
Too harsh? Well, that's what we think of bullying, as well as stupidity... what would you do?
The other story was of
Madonna Badger, the mother who lost her 3 daughters, mother and father in a house fire last Christmas.
She has decided to speak to reporters about the incident 6 months ago, and I cried listening to her. I can not imagine waking up one morning and no longer having my family.
All week I have thought to myself how lucky I am to have Cary and Zoey in my life. Zoey is so much fun and the perfect baby for me. I honestly feel like I am living the perfect life, and to imagine it could be gone in an instant is heart wrenching. I am so grateful to have the family I do, for as long as I get to have them--hopefully a very long time!