Over just the past few days, the mistreatment of an upstate New York bus monitor has become common knowledge across the country, and she has become an instant celebrity. This incident also tells another story about the state of the American home.
Karen Klein, a 68-year-old widowed grandmother, was viciously insulted and taunted by 12- and 13-year-old students recently while serving at her post as a school bus monitor for Greece, New York’s Athena Middle School. Three videos taken of the incident that have now gone viral on YouTube document 14 minutes of profanity-laced insults and taunts all directed toward this victimized lady. Other physical bullying, including jabs to her side and disturbing of her hair, is also shown. The unprintable insults hurled at Ms. Klein can only be described as disgusting, although that word does not seem to do them justice. While the whole incident was very hurtful to her, she told a local television reporter that one insult was particularly hurtful when a student said, “You’re so ugly, your kid should kill themselves.” Ms. Klein revealed that her son committed suicide 10 years ago.
After seeing the videos, local school officials reported the incident to local police, and the students believed to have been involved in the incident have been questioned by police and school officials who are deciding whether to bring any formal charges to the students. Even after all the hardships, including this one, that this woman has had to endure throughout her lifetime, she seemed satisfied with the local reaction to the incident, and local police said that Ms. Klein doesn’t want the students to be prosecuted. She stated that community service might be a more fitting punishment for them. Last Thursday, she told Matt Lauer on TODAY: “It made me feel really terrible, but I will get over it. I’ve gotten over everything else.” She had been a school bus driver for 20 years and has now worked as a bus monitor for the last three years. She heard some of the insults for the first time only after watching the videos, as she is hearing-impaired and wears hearing aids.
In another quote from Ms. Klein, directed toward the parents of the children, she said: “I’m sure they don’t act that way at home, but you never know what they’re going to do when they’re out of the house. They should’ve been taught to respect their elders no matter who it is.” This statement is very true and brings us to the heart of the matter. As parents, we really can’t know for a certainty what our children will do or say when they leave our sight, but if we at least teach them how they should talk or act, we can feel a little more confident about their public behavior. A father of one of the boys involved in this incident extended a seemingly heart-felt apology to Mrs. Klein. Apparently, a couple of other seemingly token apologies have been extended to her, but she explained that she doubted their sincerity. Even without the knowledge of which kids were among the guilty or whose parents gave what apology, this point also seems to reveal a great deal. I would speculate that the kid of the parent who extended the real apology was most likely influenced to join in on the attack with the kids who started it all. It seems likely that the token apologies came from the parents of the students who led the attack on Ms. Klein. What we teach our children, and what sort of example we set for them, does matter. This incident is evidence of that fact.
Some might say that these sorts of incidents are the fault of the failures of our nation’s public school systems, the most significant of which would be their almost universal removal of the Bible, prayer, or any mention of God in their instruction, activities, and even student freedoms. This statement would personally be considered correct. The root of the problem, though, runs even deeper. Had the majority of American families not first removed God from their homes, the schools would not have removed Him either. The list of examples goes on and on from this incident, back to school shootings such as the one at Columbine High School. Ms. Klein was also reported to have stated that in the past, as children, we feared our elders. This was a healthy and reverent fear that resulted in most kids’ visible respect and obedience toward adults. These days though, in public schools and even in many households, children have nothing to fear. Responsible corporal punishment is largely viewed as a thing of the past, removed from our schools and homes and labeled as child abuse,alongside the actions of those who truly abuse children. The Holy Bible tells us that “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chaseneth him betimes.” A traditional American proverb based on this passage tells us: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” If we should question whether this sort of thinking and action is still credible, we should look back to a time in this country when God was still welcome in our society, schools, and homes. Were incidents involving violence by children and disrespect toward elders rarer in those days? Was the adult crime rate lower in America? The answers are yes and yes. Parents are raising the future of America and will greatly determine whether it will be a positive or negative one.
The absence of a moral compass established by traditional principles of God and faith can be seen everywhere these days. It can be seen in the ever-thinning attendance in churches across our country, especially that of young people. If you want to see what the total absence of this moral compass looks like, just stroll through the internet to the first atheist website or Facebook webpage you find, or even the statements found in the comments section of the Huffington Post website’s articles on any given day! You’ll see this absence; I promise.
Those who hate the history of America’s founding, especially that it was founded upon the Bible and Godly principles, will be the first to spout the contrived American principle of “separation of church and state.” This platform is taken not from our Constitution, but from a single line from a letter once sent by Thomas Jefferson that referred to America’s actual constitutional precept that disallowed the establishment of a single state religion that would dictate all the actions and freedoms of the U.S. government by the authority of a church. The Constitution was never intended to and does not prohibit any reference or reverence to God. Quite the contrary is true. Traditionally, God has frequently been mentioned and included in decisions made by our governing officials. Consecutively, many of our early presidents and elected officials were Christians and ordained ministers. President Calvin Coolidge even stated that “The foundations of society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.” Well, it seems that we are now beginning to see the height of this difficulty in modern American society and government.
The disrespecting of elders, such as in the example discussed here, is just one more of the many signs of the times predicted by the Holy Bible. As for many of the liberal thinkers in our country today, even if they were to believe in the Biblical historical accuracy of the gospel message of God the Father’s sacrifice of his only Son, it would probably just be seen as an instance of child abuse, instead of as a free, personal, and undeserving gift. It’s now more popular to believe that we deserve the whole world, and woe be to those who stand in our way. That is a very dangerous position. In America, we have made many strides forward in our accomplishments, and these accomplishments have always been based on freedom with Judeo-Christian legal limitations. At the same time though, we have fallen away from positions that were once honorable. Sometimes, in order to move forward, we must first look back.
Photo credit: Gerry Dincher (Creative Commons)
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2 parent homes were the norm many years ago. Unfortunately, many kids have no idea who their father is these days. The phrase “Wait till your father gets home” used to be a much feared phrase. kids need discipline and society seems to disagree with that idea. I personally don’t.
Today the phrase is WHO IS YO DADDY! Most of the time de mommy dont know!
I believe a bigger problem is the 90′s woman, the it’s about me woman.
How many married families do you know where the primary care giver is the father these days? In my extended family and my wife’s extended family and known associates, the answer is definitely more than 50%.
Even stay at home mothers expect the father to care for the children when they get home from work. In these families, the father works 8-hours, the mother cares for the kids for 8-hours (equal) but then the father has to care for the kids, help or do the housework, prepare meals, do laundry, etc., times have changed. As they say, it is a woman’s world!
How many married/divorced couples do you know where the mother walked out leaving the father alone to raise the children? In our small community I would say the number is about equal; myself, my neighbor, my coworker, etc. I should also add when the mothers walk out there isn’t any child support, zero responsibility.
The result of the modern woman is children growing up without a mother in a world where women only think about themselves and their career, a world where children have become more of a possession and/or a status symbol.
Nothing will change the tens of thousands of women on welfare that never married, have lots of kids with different, often unknown, fathers; rewarded by the government for having more kids; kids that will more than likely become welfare recipients too.
The mother of my two oldest children walked out when they were under 3-years old. She was not heard from again for more than 15-years when she first contacted my son, her son, wanting money.
Kids live what they learn.
Human beings don’t necessarily need God, Christianity, religion and so forth to behave decently toward one another. Respect for others – old, young, family, strangers – comes from the home, be it one or two parents. There is simply no excuse for increasingly mean, rude, criminal and mob mentality behavior of the youth. And especially not in a supposedly free and educated nation.
So how about Americans stop doping their children with pills, video games and television? How about parents, teachers and care providers teach children impulse control , the basis of civil society? What say schools go back to having some classes on manners and etiquette? How about expecting something from your kid instead of allowing them to receive a trophy just because they’re sucking oxygen at the appropriate venue?
Thankfully, good parents outnumber irresponsible, disengaged breeders.
Years ago there appeared in a column of Ann Landers a letter from a teacher who was quitting. Following is the reason she gave which says it all:
Teachers are afraid of the principal; the principal is afraid of the superintendent; the superintendent is afraid of the school board; the school board is afraid of the parents; the parents are afraid of the kids; and the kids aren’t afraid of anybody.
Similarly, a foreign politician was asked once what he found the most unusual about Americans. His answer: “The way they obey their children.”
We are raising a generation of monsters who are afraid of nothing, have no respect for anyone and think that they have a right to everything. This, along with politicians who are destroying this country by pandering to every special interest and promising the moon, rewarding ineptitude and laziness and punishing accomplishment, make me glad that I am old and probably won’t be around to see the final destruction.
One can thank the Progressives and their push for single parenthood for the break down of our countries Mores. The good news is some education systems are using 2 cameras in school busses to watch the bad behavior and bring the kiddies in with their parent to watch the movie together. Littlle fuss box is then exposed and expelled. Some educators are finally beginning to understand the problem of discipline starts in their home. Maybe they will also figure our single parenthood and feminism is a detriment to a civil society.
I might be well to remember the cameras that were or were not mounted and functioning on that bus did not record the video we all watched. They were taken on cell phones by the same monstrous little snots who thought it was so cool to harass an old lady till she broke down and cried. They uploaded them to utube so all their friends could see just how cool they are. These legends in their own minds are now famous, but not for being cool but for being bulling little cowardly pricks of the lowest kind. Hope their pearents are proud of them. If there was any bus footage of the incident it hasn’t been made public and according to the story the school only reported the incident after they saw it on utobe.
These abusers are not children–they are old enough to know better!
An old woman should not be in this position–this is the place for a younger and stronger man!
I do work in the school system. Most of the kids do NOT say ‘thank you’ or ‘please’. They just take and think it is their due.
I have watched kids hit, punch, kick. I am the one who gets in trouble should I make them stop. If adults did this in the work place there would be assault charges filed – and rightfully so.
It hurts their feelings when I talk to them in a firm voice!? This is from the school counselor and yes I get written up. The elementary schools have three therapist; school counselor, mental therapist and psychologist. Go figure?
The students who are disciplined in the home and taught manners we can pick them out with out knowing their parents.
What the parents teach or don’t teach comes out at school.
We have teach them to sit at the tables while eating lunch. We have to teach them not to play and run around in the lunch room. I really wonder what is home teaching them.
Kids today do not respect their elders, whether teachers, parents, grad parents or anyone else. They learn this from the Televison. Have you ever sat down and actually WATCHED any of those shows they love? Even the Disney shows are full of mindless drivel and adult-bashing. ALL adults are portrayed as morons , ineffective boos or just idiots.The kids, of course, are ALL brilliant, funny and cute. Disrespect is the norm in that age group and sarcasm and insulting behavior are considered high comedy. So, why WOULDN’T they treat this dear lady like that? They were showing off to their peers, wanting to be accepted by them. Even though, in reality, their peers are a bunch of nincompoops! Why do we tolerate this kind of behavior? because of all the PC crap and the fact that the kids KNOW all they have to do is yell child abuse if you so much as threaten to spank them. It’s totally out of hand! The inmates are in charge of the insane assylum. The children are the inmates! We are at their mercy. I hope the lady manages to collect a full $Million and retires somewhere that these cretins can’t find her! My take on the situation? They ALL need their little behinds beared and blistered with a belt! And the bleeding heart liberals may as well just stay out of it.
This is another reason the USA is in decline. In ancient Greece and Rome and probably other ancient societies, behavior like this from kids would be punished with death. I think that was a little too much, but a good smack in the mouth would make the little mischievous, high-spirited darlings learn that there’s a negative consequence for such behavior.
You are correct-but the U.S has been in a decline mode since LBJ ( the flop eared jurk) started his GREAT SOCIETY, You know the Equal opp bs. Minorities to the head of the line and look where we are today! We have a prez that will not release his records, cannot prove he is even a AMERICAN! Nuf said? But it is for the children?
Prosecuting these kids and assigning them to community service is a crock. Every one of these children should have had their as**s kicked right up between their shoulder blades and then should have been sent out into the hot sunshine to grub pear, pick weeds, or perform some other useful task. In the days before the government got its snout into the American home this would never have happened in the first place because those children would have had their mouths washed out with soap or had their tiny hiney’s busted the first time such a thing occurred. Kids need a dad and a mother in the home that is adult enough to rear children, the government needs to get the he** out, and the children need to learn what discipline is.
Let us take a step back. These kids are the off spring of the free love, anti, hippie generation and the ones that followed. They grew up with the ,if it feels good do it altitude. Most grew up not even knowing who their daddy was or shared the dope with them. I agree with you tho but how can we correct now?