Kudos for standing up against bully

To the editor:

I was appalled upon reading a story about a teenager attending Umatilla High School in Florida who is being punished for trying to stop the bullying of a younger, mentally disabled child. The story is an excellent example of why I moved to Alaska. It is easier to deal with bears, moose, wolves and sub-zero temperatures than people.

Ms. Stormy Rich should be commended for her bravery in standing up for the child who is being bullied. That is true for anyone who does so. This kind of bravery is in too short a supply these days.

The school bus driver who did nothing to effectively protect this child should be fired. Also, why aren’t these school buses equipped with video cameras as are the buses in other school districts in the country?

Administrative personnel who had knowledge of this situation and did nothing also should be fired — without a recommendation or the possibility of being rehired.

Trying to excuse their lack of reaction by saying “two wrongs don’t make a right” is pure baloney! Suspending Ms. Rich harms her and invalidates her heroic action while also harming the bullied student by saying since she doesn’t realize she is being harmed, there is no need to defend her (I believe I see grounds for a lawsuit here).

Ms. Rich stated that the object of the bullying did not understand what was being done was wrong. That kind of lack of understanding is how so many young children or mentally disabled persons come to be sexually abused and financially or otherwise taken advantage of. The bullies in this case are, sadly, of the mindset to do more serious harm to the disadvantaged in the future.

If, in the minds of the those involved, their statement of “two wrongs don’t make a right,” they must disagree with our forebears who fought for freedom from Britain’s tyrannical laws and actions abusing those who lived in the New World. They must also believe that those who fought against Hitler because he was, essentially, bullying and killing those he felt were inferior were wrong. I guess we were wrong when we fought Japan, which wrought such devastation on Pearl Harbor and killed so many Americans.

That school board’s demonstrated definition of “two wrongs” would obviously preclude our ancestors’ perceived right in taking the above actions.

It is my opinion that those adults who turned a blind eye (teachers, administrators and parents of the bullies), and possibly even defended the actions of the bullies, are the worst kind of cowards. I’ll bet you even know of a parent or more who refuse to believe that what their child does is wrong. After all, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?

Aren’t we all comforted in the knowledge that parents and teachers of bullies — who either passively or actively condone bullying behavior — are helping to create a world that is becoming increasingly difficult in which to live a positive and decent life?

Karen Kirkpatrick

Willow