“You never look good by trying to make someone else look bad”.
She was crying inconsolably and I asked her what made her cry. She kept on crying but didn’t utter a word. I did not know how to console her. So, I let her take her own time until her tears dried up and then I again asked her the same question. She was a student of 5th standard where her class mates had named her kaali katti (black buffaloes’ calf) for her colour. I was shocked and speechless. I tried to comfort her and then conducted a moral lesson class where I counselled students and made them understand that such actions are immoral and not acceptable. Next morning I prepared a lecture on bullying and delivered it in the assembly. If by giving one moral lesson, society change that easily then life would have been so easy. Was it enough for us to bring a change?
Just another day I was watching a video of some journalist updating us about the Covid status which is the hot topic today, there I noticed few cynical viewers were commenting on his looks, his dressing sense and all of that. It was totally in humane and unkind thing which made me really sad. My eight years old niece has become conscious eater and chooses dresses as which one will fit her in a way that she will look slimmer. Having healthy eating habits is appreciable but choosing this life style in too young age where she was supposed to be happy only, is actually worrisome. What kind of world we are presenting to our next generation. Should we not be concerned about the things our children are facing in schools and their personal lives?
Bullying among students in school life is very common and I guess all of us have faced it in some time of our student life. For me, it may be possible that some years back children were not too much affected by this kind of leg pulling. Gradually it became trend to bully anyone for anything and no one ever bothered to take it seriously. It was taken very casually. As the time passed by, this bullying has now become body shaming. Those people who were used to bully others in schools have developed a habit of body shaming on growing up. They don’t realize how impactful their gestures are, for others in surroundings.
But in today’s era it has become a social issue, affecting children as well as older in many ways. Mental health of many of us is being affected. This issue is not a thing in schools only but on social media and societal gatherings also.
Change cannot be brought out be mere debates and discussions but by taking responsibility to change and it is possible only when we all get ourselves involved in changing these things at ground level. Guys it is high time where we as responsible parents need to teach our kids to respect other humans just for being humans and not for some kind of attractive looks. Children should be taught about compassion, affection and empathy for everyone around them and not just for their favourites. Respect each other for what and how they are and not for some special features otherwise we as humans will fail for developing a very dry and without any empathy society for our next generations where there is no humanity.
‘Changing today will be a change tomorrow.’
The author of this blog post is my wife, Chandni. Do share any instances of bullying if you had been a victim. Also share how can we bring a change in our society.
'This post is part of Blogchatter's CauseAChatter' (https://www.theblogchatter.