Taunting II

A couple of days ago I blogged about the taunting and torment that I have gone through in my life because of my weight. That blog was leading up to this- which I split into two blogs due to length. 

Just over a week ago a YouTube video went viral in which Karen Klein, a bus monitor in Greece, NY is being tormented by students for her weight. Four boys have been pinpointed as the 'culprits', but in watching the video there's most definitely the voice of a female partaking in the despicable behaviour as well. The ten minute video, which has received well over two million hits, shows Karen being poked and insulted by students, including comments such as "fat ass" and "you don't have a family because they all killed themselves because they don't want to be near you"; her son committed suicide ten years ago. 

Next to mocking her for her weight, these students also mocked her for her low income, called her a child rapist, and threatened to hurt her. Since then, the boys have written letters of apology to Karen, though she feels that only one of them was sincere. She has also met the father of one of the boys, who apologized, as a parent, for his son's behaviour. 

Since the incident, a donation has been set up in which, at this moment, $660, 000 has been raised for Karen. She plans on saving some for retirement but she is donating a lot of it to causes that effect her personally (she has a grandchild with Downs Syndrome as well as a grandchild with autism). From the interviews I have seen of her, she seems like a wonderful woman.

I continue to hope that parents will raise their children up to be better than this, but from my experience (that I shared in the original 'Taunting' thread), there are adults out there like this, and I believe it is what helps contribute to children behaving in this manner. If we want the cycle to stop, now, we need to teach our kids how to behave properly, and the best way to do that is to model that exact behavior yourself.

Below is the video. Some people have not been able to watch it completely, which is understandable. As disgusted as I was, and still am, by this, I made sure to watch it all for the purposes of this blog.