There are so many things I just don’t understand these days. Maybe it’s age creeping up on me or the way the planets are aligned, who knows? Most days, though, I end up with more questions than answers. Bullies are a prime example. They have been around since the beginning of time, I suppose, but they just keep getting meaner and more brazen. They have more technological tools to taunt and torment with from near and far. Fortunately, these little techie wizards get themselves caught by these very devices! I think by now everyone under the sun has seen the older woman that was bullied while monitoring a school bus. For me the episode that played over and over on the news brought to mind the book “Lord of the Flies,” and not in any sort of good way. I was shocked and appalled and had a deep desire to line those bus bully children up for an old fashioned whooping. Seriously, how dare they? In my day and age, which wasn’t really so long ago, we had a healthy respect and even fear of adults. There was always the one bad kid in the class that solicited the, “Oooooohhh,” from the crowd for his or her behavior. That kid’s parents were in and out of conferences a lot. Sure, there were times when someone didn’t obey orders or got a little mouthy, but that resulted in the much scarier prospect of your parents being called. What child didn’t live in fear of the phone call from school, I ask? I once had to stay after in elementary school and clap erasers together while my parents were called. I had, (gasp,) forgotten a book report and hung my head in shame on my walk home. Not completing a school assignment neatly and on time was equal to a felony in my house. My parents never raised a hand to any of us and made a loving home, (and kudos to them because if I had to deal with me at certain ages I would’ve clobbered me,) but we had a good amount of respect and just the right balance of fear for them. Most of my friends growing up had the same type of household, semi-strict yet not over the top. We also didn’t dare curse in front of our parents. Certainly the back corner of the school yard heard its share of four letter words, but no one ever let them slide within earshot of an adult! One could be a school yard badass and still maintain form in the classroom back then.

So when did those lines get blurred, I wonder? And when did parents become so lax in their enforcement of the rules? Better yet, what the heck happened to rules? I hear parents making excuses for their children’s bad behavior instead of reprimanding them. It’s almost comical at times because the parents are defending the things they should be spending their time investigating. Now I am not the best parent in the world, but I can and will use all of my superpowers to promote good and fight evil. I may even fashion myself a cape just for that extra embarrassment factor.

So the end of the school bus monitor story seems to be that she’ll get a nice, all expense paid vacation and some exorbitant amount of money that has been donated to her from far and wide. Because throwing money at an injustice is really a good lesson to teach while trying to stop bullying. I think the whole pile of offending children should take another little bus ride, but this time to a nice boot camp for rotten children. Maybe their parents should ride along as bus monitors.