Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Marteze Harris #161543
Waupun Correctional Institution
Post Office Box 351
Waupun, Wisconsin 53963

This Bullying Campaign has to Stop

When I was growing up/coming up, we played the dozens everyday. That was just a way of life for us. It was how we bonded, showed affection, mentally fighting without physically throwing blows, and how we solved disputes. It was a way of live. NOW, I can see a lot of you all, like what the hell is playing the Dozens - have anyone tried to Google it yet? Don't! Stop! I will tell you what playing Dozens is - what you now call bullying!

We spent hours talking about each other's mothers, fathers, siblings, clothes, your hair, your weight, your teeth-whatever, there was to get a laugh, make you feel bad, hurt your feelings - whatever. But at the end of the day everybody was friends, and we would more than likely do it again the next day.

I mean it was brutal sometimes. Your mother maybe called a "B" or a "H", we didn't fight. How you got even was to find a way to be better at it, whoever got the most laughs was the winner. So you found way to be better than everybody else in your neighbourhood. That way nobody would pick on you.

We also, stayed outside all day, playing and being social. Dealing with issues on our own, because nobody wanted to be labelled a mamaboy or punk. So whatever, happened in the streets stayed there. But being outside and socialising made you more of an extrovert, happier, friendlier and tougher. Because you learned how to depend on self, now there was always time when mama was the only option - and you must know when that time is. It is a quality that comes with experience.

However, what I see today is ridiculous! Just because somebody talks about you is not bullying. Man, kids will be kids. Let those kids learn how to fight for themselves, and the world want to scare them so bad. Don't get me wrong, I love babies, and I think that kids are our most precious possessions that we covet on this earth. But if you don't teach your child that everything said about them doesn't define who they are as a person. Teach them self love, that you love them, but to never run from a fight. They should never instigate a confrontation, but hold your head up and face.

What you teach your child at home has a big impact on how they will relate to life. So if somebody says to them, oh, your fat. They'll be like na'll really, I didn't know that but my mama told me I was still beautiful, and she loves me. And I can lose weight but can you lose all that ugly! See because they have self confidence, so when somebody steps to them talking crazy, you as parents, friends, associates have prepared them for the cruelness that is our world.

They want to try and kill themselves, or shoot up a school, or become so depressed that they shutdown and need medication to function. Toughen your kids up at home, so the world won't eat 'em up. And let your kids go outside, stop all those stupid brain cell killing video games. Get off the computer, their first friend in life should not be 1000 miles away. Kids should come home from school and do some chores, homework - but when that's done go outside, ride your bike, play tag, run around and be a kid. Their who weekend should be about enjoyment, outside, even in the cold, and especially in the summertime. Kids have to be kids, they can't do that on video games or the computer.

I know these kids nowadays are so sensitive to everything that goes on, and parents don't take the time to talk to their babies, so what they learn about society the T.V., a video game, or computer is teaching them. Kids need guidance and they will get it, it just depends on whom they are getting it from.

I don't know everything that's going on out there, but whether it's dealing with their sexuality, so called bullying - whatever, how somebody treats them starts at home. That way if they come out and say I'm gay, if nobody else accepts them they know that it doesn't matter because the people that matter the most have prepared them for the harshness of the world. And nothing that anyone says about them will penetrate that protective armour, that you the parents have embedded in their DNA.

I just hate this Bullying Campaign I see on T.V. daily. If you the parents, teachers, siblings, friends, etc., instill in your loved ones values, principles and character that will help guide them on the right path, nothing anyone says to them on a negative tip will ever hurt them.

I know some of you may not agree with me or my philosophy on this subject, but I'll tell you, how kids are being raised today may not be wrong, but it definitely isn't right. I see kids on T.V. talking back to their parents, hitting them, and just buckwild - where is the discipline at. Where is the respect at, love and dedication to those that you are responsible for, and vice versa.

I hate to hear about kids killing themselves, scared to go to school, or trying to hurt others because they feel that's their last recourse. It's not! Kids have to look within themselves and find that person that they know they are, that they want to be, and let nobody knock them off their square. Everybody is three people, who people think he is, who he thinks he is, and who he really is.

People must always remember, "WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS, THEY BECOME WORDS. WATCH YOUR WORDS THEY BECOME ACTIONS. WATCH YOUR ACTIONS THEY BECOME HABITS. WATCH YOUR HABITS THEY BECOME YOUR CHARACTER. WATCH YOUR CHARACTER IT BECOMES YOUR DESTINY". Courage doesn't happen in the absence of fear, but in the face of fear-with the will to go on.

I will tell you all a quick story - a true story. Then I'll let a sleeping dog lie. When I was, oh, about 7 or 8 years old, there was this "bully" in school. I can't remember his name now, that shows how irrelevant he became to me, but he used to beat the hell out of me everyday. Chase me home, and I'd be running down the street screaming my mama's name like a banshee, and my mama always came to the rescue. She'd chase him home - not literally! :) Though, I wish she would have. But no matter how much my mama told him to leave me alone he wouldn't.

So one day, same routing, right, he's chasing me home, and I am screaming for my beloved saviour... MY MAMA! The bottom door is open and I run up the stairs of our house, and I look up and my mama is at the top of the stairs. She looks down at me, and says, "You either go out there and fight him, or you come up these stairs and fight me!" now as scared as I was of him, I was petrified of her. I didn't even think, because either way I was going to fight that day. And one fight I wouldn't have a chance at all, the other I was going to give it a shot. I ran straight out the door, and jump right at him, didn't think about what he was going to do, just knowing what my mama would do to me. Long story short, she had to pull me off him because I was in that 1000 mile zone. I didn't see anything but victory, there could be no defeat, because I had no clue if fighting was enough to appease my mama, or if his total destruction was what she wanted. But from that day forward he never bothered me again.

Now I am not saying that fighting is the answer to what's happening out there, but for me, it worked that day. But once I was no longer scared to define myself physically, I was able to walk away from the foolishness that was beneath me. Oh, yeah, my hubris was very inflated then. :) But my mama knew that if I kept running from him everyday, then I would run from every confrontation in my life, and I would always be prey for some