Bullying occurs at every age and in many different environments, but it is an all-too-ordinary childhood event. At least one out of every five students has reported being bullied at school. The behavior involves key characteristics: repeated, aggressive, and unwelcome actions towards another, and an imbalance of power between the attacker and the victim.
Helping the bully change is also part of many successful anti-bullying strategies. Often, bullies are blind to the feelings of others. They are aggressive, perceive the actions of others as threatening when they are not, and avoid responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Yet their aggressive behavior doesn’t just hurt victims—bullies will suffer, too, if they don’t change.
But bullying is not just a family issue. Workplace bullying costs businesses time and money and leads to higher employee turnover. If communities addressed bullying in a serious way through civic organizations and business groups, the threat of intimidation and harassment could godown for everyone—young and old alike.
Bullying is a widespread behavior that is not limited to educational settings, so schools should not bear the entire responsibility for addressing what is a public issue. Parents and the community should talk about bullying and discuss ways of preventing it. To that end, T.B. Scott Free Library in collaboration with the Merrill Area Public Schools will be holding a community forum, “Bullying … How Do We Prevent It?” as we continue to Build Merrill Together.
Join library staff on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 6 p.m. at Prairie River Middle School Auditorium entering through Doors 16 or 22 at 106 Polk St., Merrill, WI, for an evening of healthy and constructive conversation with Merrill Area Public Schools administration, counseling services, School Resource Officer, as well as representatives from Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northcentral Wisconsin and North Central Heath Care Outreach Department about this very sensitive topic. For more information, call the Library at 715-536-7191, check the Library Facebook page or go to our webpage, www.tbscottlibrary.org.