Hi!
A few days spent with the 10 and under crowd helps pull things into perspective. It reminds us that life is allowed to be carefree, even if it comes captured in moments that feel all too fleeting.
As I play with them, make snacks, watch them torpedo each other with water balloons, and pick up all of the balloon remnants, so as not to choke the birds, it's impossible not to have memories flood in from when our girls were little. The backyard shenanigans, the cricket circuses, the salamanders, the things they think went undetected, the endless supply of Mr. Freezies and popsicles, the scrapes and bruises, all of it.
The world looked a bit different back then. But, I'm sure every generation of parents feels the same way. Our parents, our grandparents, us, our kids, as they parent their own kids. The world is a never-ending work in progress, or, in some cases, couter-progress, depending on where you live.
Every generation has faced its own unique challenges, each one feeling like the challenges hit at lightning speed with no room to recover in between. Being a kid now is not the same as thirty years ago, definitely not the same as fifty years ago, and gobsmackingly different than seventy years ago.
Technology has fostered a necessary sophistication, a level of awareness the previous generations didn't really need. Our worlds were smaller, our information more limited. This generation of unlimited information presents both opportunities and pitfalls.
I feel, though bullying has always been around, technology provides a whole new level of punching down. Those who choose to be cruel can be relentless, with the world living in your pocket, constantly buzzing, forever alerting, there becomes no escape. At least any that your kid can see.
I don't know what the solution is, but I think one step toward stopping kids from bullying each other is for them to watch as adults get held accountable for doing this exact thing.
Case in point... the garbage human that is Alex Jones. It has been ruled that he has to pay over $4 million to the families of the Sandy Hook school shooting. Why? Bullying. To this day he uses tech to continue to spew lies about the shooting itself, as well as the families ripped apart by this tragedy.
Can you even imagine your child being killed in cold blood in an environment that is supposed to be inherently safe, their school? Can you then imagine having that horror compounded by some asshat saying things like you are an actor getting paid, that your child didn't actually exist, that the event that took your child from you, your six-year-old child, didn't happen? Can you imagine, then receiving death threats because the lunatics that believe his horse crap think that these grieving families are part of some deep state?
I can't.
I can't imagine what that must feel like. Any of it.
Alex Jones then goes to court and tries to continue his most horrid fairytale. The judge wasn't having it. The parents of one of the victims told him face to face, the hell he has, and continues to, put them through. He couldn't care less. Garbage human.
But, he is being held, at least, somewhat accountable. Is it enough? Personally, I don't think so. He's already trying to get bankruptcy protection so he doesn't have to pay. I don't think money is enough, he'll likely find some kind of loophole to keep from paying.
I think he should be stripped of any opportunity to have any platform ever again. No podcast, no radio show, no social media. Before he leaves the airwaves forever, he should have to go on every talk show, every podcast, every platform, and admit what he has done. He should have to admit that everything he has said is a lie. He should have to give the correction of his lies the same level of fervor he has given doing the damage. The same bluster, the same commitment, the same passion. He should have to fix it.
Period. He can't bring the kids back, but he could give the families some peace.
Hopefully, the court system will catch up to tech. In the meantime, I'm going to go and get things ready for the water balloon war that will happen again this weekend. They can be sophisticated later.
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May every bully get exactly the life they deserve.
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