We are always told to only trust adults we personally know, and even then, we must be careful for one may not always be what he or she seems to be or is supposed to be. It’s just devastating hearing about parental child abuse or kidnappings by non-custodial parents in the news. It’s even worse when you hear of a trusted community member doing something extremely unacceptable, quite out of the context of their character. Some adults just have the nerve to do things like sexually assault, kidnap, mistreat, abuse, or flat-out murder innocent children. Whether that person is a law enforcer, doctor, priest, or trusted relative, it does not matter.
Not too long ago, there were allegations from the United States that a priest, Rev. James Roth, sexually assaulted a man when he was nine years old. The allegations could not be fully proven until his recent demise by drug overdose. Beside the suicide suspicion, there was a confession letter admitting to the accusations against him. That goes to show not everyone working for God is truly committed to Him and only Him. There are many other priests that have been known to have sexually assaulted children, both here in Canada and internationally. Let’s understand one thing though: these who go astray down the wrong path do not represent the whole pack, but at the same time, this tells us something about the society we have come to live in.
Another common occurrence is bullying, a worldwide quagmire that has been dated much farther back than anyone can possibly imagine. Children are likely to pick on one another very often, almost to the point where it is normality in our lives today. Alas, kids and teens aren’t the only ones to have bullied other kids and teens before. There have been several cases in which teachers have either participated in or ignored bullying in school communities, the latter very much common and very much too a form of bullying. I watched this one video of this one case where a teacher joined in on the bullying of a mentally disabled kid. This imprudent fellow added a letter to a coarse word on a smart board that another student that was originally bullying the victim forgot to add, deleting the evidence seconds after. Fortunately, the boy being ridiculed recorded the whole scene on his phone and posted it online. Alas, it was all to no avail for the school and the board did nothing about it even after the story was on the news.
Another case had a boy committing suicide after another classmate videotaped him doing something inappropriate in the school washroom and posted it online. The boy was already being bullied prior to this episode and apparently, according to the victim’s parents, the teachers did absolutely nothing about the situation, deeming it minor and something that would soon disappear. This is too a form of bullying from the teachers who ignored a child in need of assistance, rather by standing and watching the turmoil play out.
There are many cases in which you hear of doctors sexually harassing their patients in the hospitals, many of these victims being kids. It really is a shame when you believe you can put your trust in someone, especially an adult, only to wake up having been assaulted.
There are other news stories of children being abused physically, verbally, mentally, and sexually, ultimately and unfortunately sometimes leading to death. You hear of these situations every now and then worldwide; child labour and child soldiers to be thrown into this category for they are being forced by supposedly trustworthy adults into harsh situations. Imagine being young again and walking home from school, only to be suddenly abducted into a van. You don’t know where you are going. It is dark. You’re crying. Will you ever see home again? Luckily, services such as AMBER Alert are taking the initiative to prevent such incidents from reoccurring.
I am a trusting person, one of my best qualities and also my weakest. I and anyone of you young readers could be in a great amount of danger anytime because someone you trust and love or someone you barely knows tries something with you. Always remember that if someone tries to touch you in anyway or tell you something against your parents or you own will or something you know is morally wrong, do not hesitate to run away as fast as your legs can take you or when they catch up with you, attack said person with any weapons you have, be it your teeth, nails , legs etc., and scream as loud as your lungs can let out that noise; somehow someone will hear your screaming and come to the rescue. Not everyone can be trusted and you should know how to protect yourself and identify the predators. As for the adults reading this, please think twice before ever harming any of our future generation.
Angelous.