NATHAN SQUIERS, author of “DEATH METAL” shares his view on “BULLYING: A SOCIAL PLAGUE”
It doesn't seem too
long ago that I was a schoolboy and facing the cruel elements of my fellow peers.
While teachers and other figures of authority did what they could to keep the
severity of the situations under control, bullies still got to flex their
collective muscle. At that time--and all times before that--the internet wasn't
the driving social tool that it has become, and while bullying was a painful
and wretched reality that every child, myself included,
had to face, it nevertheless faded at the end of the day when I and my peers
were released from school and able to go home. Once safe-and-sound at my home,
like a professional boxer retreating to their corner at the end of a round, I
was able to wind down. After a few hours of homework and television/video
games, the mental aches-and-pains from that day's harassments were little more
than a clouded nightmare that I had endured and awoken out of.
And so, day-after-day
I, and many others like me, endured the cycle; tolerating it with the awareness
that there was only so much the bullies could dish out before that last bell
rang and we were on the bus.
Also, for me at
least, I was permitted five "mental-health days" per school quarter.
While I couldn't collect these to gain a full school-week off, they did do the
trick of further healing from a particularly bad day if needed.
But with the blossoming
of new technologies and the constant potential attachment with the entire world
(like it or not). Unfortunately (an incredibly
inappropriate-yet-all-too-often-used-word in regards to the subject), for
victims of bullying--which, sadly, is most who attend school or any other
similar establishment--there is no longer an escape when school lets out.
Nowadays, kids get to head home not just with the residual sting of that day's
torment fresh on their mind, but the ever-growing anxiety of what publicly-available
hell awaits them when they log on.
While I don't
consider myself "old" or "behind the times" it seems to me
that this is not only an atrocious way to treat one's peers, but an incredibly
improper way to use a technology that has such vast and monumental potential
for good. Facebook, and other such global networking sites, provide a means for
anybody at any location to reach out and make a difference in the lives of
anybody else, anyplace else in the world. And how do we react to such a
networking treasure?
By torturing one
another?!
Are we as a species
truly so wrapped up in our own petty selves that the happiness and comfort of
our fellow man is as easily destroyed as an insect on the wall? Have we truly
lost all decency? Have we truly become so blind?
Albert Einstein once
said, "It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed
our humanity" and no truer words could be said on the subject (I'll allow
a tremor of dread to now pass as you realize that this quote is more-than six
decades old; more than enough time if you ask me for us to further build on
technology and further lose our humanity).
Just imagine, we have
a means of providing soothing words, powerful advice, or life-changing wisdom
with eager and deserving minds all over the world and most would rather use it
to ridicule somebody in their math class because they're a little different
(because, let's face it, you're nobody if you don't look and act like everybody
else).
Meanwhile, rather
than owning up to years-upon-years of slacking and turning away from an
ever-worsening issue, schools feel the need to, rather than owning up to their
responsibilities and showing some real effort, insist that nothing is wrong
while we're forced to sit and read and/or watch stories of youth across the
country forced into a mindset that actually drives them to commit suicide--not
just contemplating hurting themselves, but actually taking their own lives
because of an inability to further stomach the torrents of harassment that have
become a hellish routine!
We are, as we always
have been, human beings--mammals with a mentality dedicated to the
"herd" like most other warm-blooded creatures on this planet--and
it's coming dangerously close to the point where we as a species figure out
what herd mentality means or suffer a self-destructive extinction. People seem
to have some instinctual apprehension to the comparison between the species and
the behavior of a virus--an entity that exists only to spread and destroy to
maintain its own existence--and yet, studying the social patterns that we're
taking, it's difficult to see any sort of natural instinct to follow a mindset
of "protect the herd". We've become so calloused to the simple needs
of others; needs like love, affection, compassion, dignity, and respect. We may
very well be too damn selfish and stubborn to help the little guy up, but do we
really--REALLY--have to go out of
our way to crush them body, mind, and essence?
Is it truly so hard
to NOT be cruel?
Is it really so
pleasurable to destroy others?
I have seen firsthand
the depths that this problem has dug itself into our lives. Several months
back, an Upstate New York high school student took her life because of the
bullying she faced at school and online. To try and spread awareness and memorialize
their lost loved one, the friends and family of this poor girl created a
Facebook page in her honor. When I learned of this, I promptly
"Liked" the page and offered my condolences as best I could to the
bereaved in the form of a post on the page's wall. Not soon after being posted
I was notified of a response to the comment. Please note that not one word of
this is an exaggeration or a lie (I'm a fantasy author by trade and I couldn't
imagine making up such monstrous events), but as I scanned the rapidly growing
responses to my supportive post, I saw that only one-in-every-three were
positive and/or grateful for my sentiments. The majority of the responses came
from the very bullies who had driven the girl to suicide, and rather than
showing remorse--rather than hiding in the shadows where they belong--they
gathered like vultures and urged both myself and all other supporters to kill
themselves as well, citing that a world filled with cultural, sexual, and
religious diversity was not a world worth being proud of.
"You should
think about killing yourself."
They'd turned it into
a mantra of hate; one that they used repeatedly--an opening and closing
statement and often laced in every other sentence of their hate-driven rants.
"You should
think about killing yourself."
Believe me when I say
that most kids nowadays DO think about killing themselves, and it rarely stops
at thought if something isn't done!
The floodgates of
hopelessness have burst and the new generation is already at risk of drowning in
the inevitable flood and, well aware that the bully will not soon cease and the
schools will never admit fault the responsibility falls into the hands of us;
those that SEE the monumental threat for what it is: a social plague that can
now travel the globe in a blink of an eye. And while this certainly presents
itself as a terrifying responsibility I can assure you that you're more-than
equipped to fight back. These victims, starved for affection and desperate for
understanding, need only know--need only FEEL--that they have a purpose and a
right to be here. These brave-yet-tortured souls that hold such promise for our
combined futures--brave souls, brilliant and unique, that will no doubt be the
defining members of our society if given the opportunity to see tomorrow--need
and deserve to see that being blessed with consciousness and awareness is not a
punishment.
If somebody you know
is the victim of bullying--be it your child, your sibling, your friend, etc. .
. .-- in any way, shape, or form, it is your job to not do more damage by
ignoring their situation. We are getting glimpses of what escape means to these
kids and what lengths they'll go to to achieve it and that is all the warning
we're going to get. Set aside the time to show them their company is valued and
cherished--that they are valued and cherished--and give them a reason to fight
against the darkness growing inside their hearts so that they can see tomorrow.
A tomorrow that holds
the potential to be better than today for all of us.
ABOUT author NATHAN SQUIERS
Born
in Massachusetts in 1986, Nathan grew up in Andover where his affinity for
story-telling flourished due to a love of books and movies as well as an
overactive imagination. At the age of 13, Nathan and his mother moved to
upstate New York to be closer to their family.
After
surviving public school, where he spent most of his days locked away in the AV
room watching old 80s movies on Laserdisc and planning out his next video
project, Nathan began a shaky college career. A love of inventing and telling
stories was motivation enough to pursue an education in English, and, as luck
would have it, a series of phenomenal professors were presented to get him
pointed in the right direction. It was in his first years of college that
Nathan began to actively pursue a writing career, starting his first literary
journey with a piece that would become Crimson Shadow (due for release summer
of 2012 by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing).
Like
any good story, a chaotic turn of events brought Nathan from the very brink of
insanity and loneliness to the warm, comforting embrace of Megan, his best
friend, lover, kindred spirit, and--more often than not--personal handler. It
was with Megan at his side that Nathan was able to continue his writing
(sometimes solely motivated by the young lady's threats of dismemberment if he
tried to stop). With Megan's help, Nathan was able to see Death Metal, his
fourth manuscript, through the publication process.
Nearly
ten years later, Nathan continues to invent stories and put them into a
literary sequence that he hopes will be somehow decipherable by other readers.
As a lover of all things creative, he works in both novels, novellas, short
stories, as well as comic book scripts (just don't ask him to draw something if
you don't like stick figures and poorly-executed shapes).
BOOKS by NATHAN SQUIERS
“DEATH METAL”
OVERVIEW
Life
was good and the future was bright for up-and-coming heavy metal band,
Bloodtones. With a steadily-growing fan-base, the five members looked forward
to a promising career in the music industry.
And
then things went to hell.
Soon
after a strange sighting, the Bloodtones' lead singer, Bekka, finds herself
capable of the impossible and in mortal danger from otherworldly forces that
catch even the non-human members of the band off guard. With their rock-solid
future rapidly crumbling before their eyes, the Bloodtones find themselves
struggling for not only their music...
but
their very lives.
Crimson
Shadow (series)
*available Summer 2012
Comic
books
*in progress
Death Metal is available for purchase
on Amazon.com at:
Reviews can be found on Goodreads at:
And a Death Metal trailer, made by Megan
Parker, can be seen on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdGOHF30Km4
AUTHOR LINKS
1 comment:
Brilliant post on bullying! Is is that hard not to be cruel?
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