I am sick and tired of cruelty. I hear almost everyday instances of cruelty from one human being to another either on the news, on radio, or just in having conversations with others; and, it makes me ill. How can someone be deliberately mean to another person and live with it in their heart, mind or soul and not have it destroy them? Today, I heard another situation that just hurt my heart…it was about four adults who acted with cruelty towards another person who was vulnerable…an individual with special needs.
The incident involved the forced, and coerced, tattooing of a 14 year old special needs student. This student had been exposed to bullying at school; and, these so called adults (all over the age of 18) allegedly told him that the bullying would stop if he got a tattoo. He said he didn’t want one; but still, he was allegedly threatened and forced to get a tattoo which had some kind of image along with obscene words on his buttocks.
Tattoos take time to apply to a person; even when a person wants to have one. I can’t imagine what this young man endured during this “procedure”. He’s been taunted at school by other students who are picking on him because of his special needs and then he is assaulted in this way. Not only is he physically scared but he is also emotionally scared because these people chose to humiliate and abuse him.
This whole situation came to the attention of the authorities because pictures of this young 14 year old abuse victim were being circulated at school and a teacher reported it to the authorities when they became aware of the pictures. Thank you to the unknown teacher who had the courage to do the right thing! Teachers don’t often get enough credit these days for what they do at school for our kids. Often, teachers are on the first line of defense when it comes to protecting special needs students from abuse or bullying. Along the same lines, other students who are caring and filled with the strength of character to be an advocate for special needs students are becoming more rare these days. To those of you who do the right thing in these types of situations…I thank you as well.
I wonder, just how many people saw these photos and laughed? Were they amused at the image, the words, or just the fact that someone that they considered to be of a lessor value than they themselves, or one of their friends, was put in this position of having their picture plastered all over the school for others to look at and make fun of him?
Were they not moved by compassion to report such a terrible crime? How can a person take joy in the torture, humiliation, or abuse of another person; whether they know them or not? Is not a special needs person worthy of protection, compassion, or caring?
I mean, even if someone does not know a special needs person; don’t they understand that they have feelings and emotions just like they themselves? Everyone wants to feel safe, be loved, be accepted and have friends at school. It is unacceptable that this situation was turned into a source of entertainment by some students.
The victim here was only 14 years old. I think that those pictures should be considered sexual exploitation by anyone who had access to them or viewed them and did not report it. Any person who was passing along the photos to others should suffer consequences as well as the people who were involved in the actual abuse of this young man.
How can people who are supposedly blessed with average or above intellectual abilities treat another human being in this way? What gives them the right to consider themselves better than another person; simply because of a perceived imperfection called special needs? It is wrong, it is cruel, it is immoral, and it is…ILLEGAL.
Parents, teachers, neighbors, grandparents, church leaders we must all take our roles of leadership seriously and start instilling in our young people tolerance, compassion and empathy towards others; especially the most vulnerable individuals in our society such as young children, the elderly or those who are afflicted with disabilities. It is important that we do this because as a nation, we are losing our moral compass because people who can do these kind of horrible things to their fellow human beings and not see something wrong with it are becoming more common everyday.
Hello…no-one SHOULD have to tell another person that this kind of behavior is wrong. However, New Hampsire’s court system should make it clear; because these four individuals in New Hampshire have been arrested and charged for their actions. Let’s hope that the legal system really makes an impact on others who think they can be cruel, and treat other human beings any way they want to and get away with it; by making the legal punishment fit the crime. The punishment should be large enough to send a message to anyone else who may consider bullying or abusing a special needs individual, that it is NOT the right thing to do! What do you think would be an appropriate punishment for someone who abuses another person in this way?
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