This is away from my normal posts, but I’ve recently been asked in a few interviews how I feel about the current bullies, bully, and bullying (depending on the situation) the bullying headlines in the news. Another common question is how do I feel about Gay marriage.
First off I have no clue why my stance on Gay marriage has anything to do with RentAFriend.com, but it’s a question I’m being asked often. It’s even been printed into a few interviews I’ve done. I’m a very liberal. I think all people should be able to choose what they want to do: Marry who they want, love who they want, practice the religion of their choice. If 2 gay people are in love, who has the right to deny them marriage? Certainly no one on this planet should be able to make that decision. So my stance is that Gay people should have the same rights as married people do. Marriage should be between people who love each other and want to get married.
Bully Situation: How do I feel about it. I feel horrible about the bullying situation that’s going on in this world. I’ve noticed a lot of celebrities getting involved in the “speak out against bullies” and I think it’s wonderful. I remember going to school with some kids when I was younger who were constantly picked on and bullied. I saw how sad and upset it made them and have always known it was wrong. I’ve never participated, and always did my best to stand up for people who were bullied and picked on. I’ve been friends with a few people who were bullied growing up and it’s unfortunate that the scars of bullying can carry on for a long time. I’ve seen how it’s destroyed people’s confidence and given them bad self esteem. So I think it’s great that celebrities are speaking out. I also think it’s important for every school to stop bullying starting at a young age. The younger they can address the issue, the better I feel the long terms results will be. I also believe there should be strict punishments for students who get caught bullying. I feel if the punishment such as suspension was issued to bullies, things would change. When I was growing up, bullies never received any detention or punishment from the schools. The only (sweet) justice was when the kid who was being bullied stuck up for themselves and settled it with a playground fist fight. Now I don’t condone violence, but when I was growing up playground fights were common, often, and never ended with anything more than a black eye or bruised ego. Where as now a days kids bringing a gun to school as payback is becoming more violent. It’s amazing how times have changed. I remember back when I was in 4th grade that after school it was common for teachers to sit in their classroom and have a cigarette. Where our school janitor used to let us 12 year olds go onto the 5th story roof of our school to retrieve tennis balls and then stand over the edge and throw them down. Now a days, the teachers/janitors would be fired, sued, or put in prison. (Sorry for the long tangent). But I think bullying needs to be treated like a problem, where at the first sign of it, it’s stopped.