I See Bully People

I love a good twist at the end of a movie. One that you didn't see coming and that leaves you with that smiley "DAAANG" feeling. Well, I experienced that smiley "DAAANG" feeling at school and it was even better than at the movies.

I have told you before how, like most people, bullies at school really get under my skin, especially when they target the visually impaired students at our school.

How LOW can you get?

Bullying a BLIND kid?

Really?

Well, it happened again.

Yesterday, one of the aides from our visually impaired class came to me with one of her students who was in our fourth grade last year and told me the following story:

Nick was in the restroom when another student came in, wet a big wad of paper towels and chucked them right in Nick's face. The bully then said, "Ha ha! And you can't even see who I am!"

(My jaw is tightening as I type this. It is infuriating to me.)

When Nick told the brat,

I mean the punk,

I mean the other child

that he might not be able to see him but he would recognize his voice, the kid announced he was a fourth grader.

A fourth grader? One of our students?

Well, I had not dismissed anyone to the bathroom in the past 10 minutes when this had occurred so I marched over to the other room and asked my partner if she had.

She had.

A boy.

With a looooonngg history of poor choices in his wake.

My heart sank.

This kid is one who we know wants to do well, however he lacks any initiative to do so unless one of us is right next to him. Free from our sight, he seeks out trouble.

I called him off to the side.

Me: Have you been to the restroom lately?
Him: (Head hung low) Yes, Ma'am.
Me: Was anyone in there with you?
Him: (Slow head nod)
Me: Did anything happen that I should know about?
Him: (looooong pause) Wellllll, Nick was in there. (Looooonger pause)
Me: Yes?
Him: And a bigger kid threw wet paper towels in his face and made fun of him for being blind so I got in between them and told the bigger kid to leave him alone and that if he didn't leave I was gonna tell.
Me: (looooooooooooooooooong pause) THAT'S FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!! Well, not the bullying part, but the part where you helped a kid being bullied sure is!!!

After we talked, our fourth grade hero bravely marched into a fifth grade room and openly identified the bully, whose name he did not know. We told him he could just identify him privately to us, but he wanted the bully to know who turned him in because bullying a blind kid is wrong.

We then sent our fourth grader to the office for his first visit to the principal to be recognized for making a fantastic choice instead of a fantastically awful one.

I love a good twist!