Bully Tested - Target Approved

So the bully's that tormented Karen Klein in Greece, NY received their punishment.  The boys got one year suspension, 50 hours of community service and have to complete courses on bully prevention, respect and responsibility.  The kids will be placed in the districts re-engagement center where they will stay on track academically but partake in far more than just the lessons of the classroom.  As a former target of bullying, I like these terms.
This center also reportedly requires strong parental involvement, so as to make sure nothing like this ever happens again, at least not on any of these individuals watches.
The reason I like the punishment is because it doesn't throw the kids away.  It gives them a chance to really learn something in all of this and HOPEFULLY, make them better because of it.  I truly hope the parents of these young people take this punishment seriously themselves and enforce it at home.  I mean talk to their kids about their day, about what they've done, about what they want to do.  They have to ask their kids "do you really understand the gravity of what you did, and why it was wrong"  If they don't, this year can very easily be lost on just getting through and completing the penalty.  If the parents don't believe in it, the kids certainly won't.
But these parents seem committed.  They waived a district hearing and agreed to the penalty handed down.  I plan to take that as a positive sign and wish them all luck in the upcoming journey.
This no doubt will be a humbling road for these young people, some may even say somewhat embarrassing.... I say it will only be embarrassing if they come out on the other side UNCHANGED.
Young Men, this is your moment, grab hold and own it.  If you truly care and are sorry for your actions, your story is one that you will be able to use as a teaching tool the rest of your life and instead of being embarrassed, you will be proud to know that the mistakes you made, may very well have prevented someone else from going down that same road!

Dana, I am proud of you!

As I was sitting and reading through the Huffington Post, my eyes were pulled to the photo and caption of a friend and former colleague... Dana Jacobson.  The story was about her personal experience of having been molested as a child by by her baby-sitter (see her blog: Dana's Take).  I was stunned, I was saddened, I was lost for words.... but most of all, I was proud.   I was proud that this phenomenal woman was putting herself out there.  The topic of child sexual abuse is never an easy one to deal with, but if you don't have a personal connection to it, you are able to keep a distance.  You have empathy, but you maintain a certain distance.  I had no connection with such atrocities until now, until Dana.

I didn't know Dana then, I cannot change what happened to her, but I feel a hole in my heart all the same.... I want to know why it happened, I want to know what gave that sick person the right, the audacity to take away the innocence of kid in that manner.  All I can do now, is look at my beautiful baby boy and promise to do all I can to keep him safe.  Dana said it best "strangers are supposed to be the one's we fear, not people we know".  It's PAST TIME to change the narrative for our kids, for my kid....

Sadly, this is not new news, the question is what are we going to do about it?  How do we protect our kids?  How do we let our kids know, that just because someone is beloved, popular, well-known, a person in position of power, doesn't give them a pass to hurt?  Better yet, how do we get in front of this madness and keep these people away from our kids in the first place?  I don't want my child to have to tell me about an incident, I want that incident to NEVER HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Dana, you have helped more people than you will ever know.  Perhaps one more pair of eyes will pay closer attention to individuals than before and perhaps one less child will suffer what you and thousands of other innocents should never have ever had to encounter in the first place.