Enough already with the bus monitor story

Unless you live on another planet, you are probably over-saturated with the elderly Greece School bus monitor who was bullied by four middle school kids. One of the numbnuts actually shot a phone video of the caper and posted it on YouTube. The four were shown taunting the bus monitor, calling her all kinds of cruel names and even poking at her.

The YouTube posting went viral and people were shocked at the behavior of the middle school students. For the most part, the elderly woman just sat there and took the abuse, and the world would never have known about the bullying, if not for the internet.

Howls went out about the abuse of the grandmother and every major network from here to Timbuktu interviewed the woman. The horrified public awaited word of the middle school kids’ fates. Would they be tar and feathered for the incident? Did they make the woman cry as she took off her glasses and wiped her face?

In the original interviews, the woman claimed it has happened before and no, she was not crying, just wiping sweat from her face on a very hot day.

Regardless of facts, justice had to be done. Some guy in Canada started a campaign to raise money for the bus monitor, perhaps to let her take a vacation. Next thing you know the money pot grew to over $650,000 and the guy who posted the web campaign became news. An airline even gave the woman and 9 of her family members an all-expense paid trip to Disneyland.
As the days passed, the news story only grew. Even a week after the incident, major outlets were still using grandma as a lead story.

Now, for some reality. Yes, the four kids were more than stupid, thoughtless and cruel. Yes, they should be punished, but as in all such cases, the public overreacted. The kids and their families actually received death threats. The media was on a frenzy to interview everybody and anybody that even lived in the Town of Greece.

As the money trove grew even higher, people began asking the woman what she was going to do with all her new, found wealth. She replied she would pay off bills, mortgages and give some to her children and family.

Let me get this straight. A soldier with a young family is killed in Afghanistan and only the family, friends and people in the town where they lived are affected and grieve. There may be some casseroles and perhaps a small collection for the soldier’s family, but no one to set up a pity parlance for $650,000.

The woman was hired as a bus monitor and by all observations, she performed her duties badly. She stated it happened before, but she never reported such conduct? Wasn’t she on the bus to monitor and help the bus driver keep control of the middle school kids? Now, she is going to help out her family with the money?

I have an idea. Why not donate the money to causes to prevent bullying? Perhaps setting up a bus monitoring school of conduct may be a good idea. How about setting up some of that river of cash for the widow of a slain soldier, somebody who can really use it?

As in many cases, people think with their hearts and open wallets, not their brains. The internet can be a deadly tool for bullies, for people with giving tendencies, and for bad bus monitors with dollar signs being thrown at them.

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