Bullying

[Jessie Fong]

From  http://www.religionnews.com/

Throughout elementary, middle and high school, Prabhdeep Suri has been the only Sikh in his class, and it’s been obvious.

Prabhdeep Suri speaks about his experiences with bullying in a classroom at the Sikh gurdwara, Guru Nanak Foundation of America in Silver Spring, Md. on Jan. 19, 2014.

Like all Sikh boys, he wore a patka, a head covering for his uncut hair that’s worn out of respect for his gurus. To his classmates, the patka was a license to stare, taunt, isolate, punch and kick him. It was a target to knock off his head. It was the reason they called him “Osama bin Laden” and “terrorist.”

Bullying is a hot topic in the U.S. today, and affects children and teenagers who for any number of reasons appear or act differently. But unlike others who can hide their religion at school — by wearing a baseball cap instead of a yarmulke, or never mentioning that their family celebrates Ramadan — Sikhs literally wear their religion on their sleeves.

The kara, a steel bracelet, symbolizes strength, and unity with God. Sikhs believe God created the universe and all religions, and made men and women equal. More apparent is the patka, which covers a Sikh boy’s head from the day his hair is long enough to tie into a topknot, and is traded for a turban at his coming-of-age ceremony, around age 12.

“One of the core tenets of Sikh tradition is to have respect for all religious traditions,” said Singh, whose Sikh Coalition was founded on the night of 9/11, after a man seeking vengeance attacked a Sikh family in Queens, N.Y.

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In this modern day, where information is readily and easily available, it is a shame that many people are being bullied for their personal religious belief.

It is not only the core tenet of the Sikh tradition that teaches respect for all religious traditions, it is the same for all religions.

This being the case, can we safely state that those bullies were not exposed to any religious teachings?

[Matibhadra]

Prabhdeep Suri speaks about his experiences with bullying in a classroom at the Sikh gurdwara, Guru Nanak Foundation of America in Silver Spring, Md. on Jan. 19, 2014.
Like all Sikh boys, he wore a patka, a head covering for his uncut hair that’s worn out of respect for his gurus. To his classmates, the patka was a license to stare, taunt, isolate, punch and kick him. It was a target to knock off his head. It was the reason they called him “Osama bin Laden” and “terrorist.”

This is an interesting demonstration of the religious intolerance in Jewish-Christian US, the country always ready to point dirty fingers to other countries' supposed “lack of religious freedom”.

It is not only the core tenet of the Sikh tradition that teaches respect for all religious traditions, it is the same for all religions.
This being the case, can we safely state that those bullies were not exposed to any religious teachings?

Or rather, we can safely state that ideologies whose “teachings” are the very nature of religious intolerance, such as the Abrahamic so-called “religions”, are not religions at all.

[Matibhadra]

It is not only the core tenet of the Sikh tradition that teaches respect for all religious traditions, it is the same for all religions.

Wrong. Abrahamic “religions”, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, teach, and consistently put into practice, absolute intolerance for and ultimately the full extermination of those not submitting to their bloodthirsty “god”, variously called “idolaters”, “idol worshippers”, “pagans”, “infidels”, “heathen”, and so forth.

This being the case, can we safely state that those bullies were not exposed to any religious teachings?

The other way round. The bullies were exposed to Abrahamic “religious” teaching, which is why they became bullies.

[RedLantern]

Racist bullying occur when someone was clearly very different, not due to colour but accent,clothing and cultural differences.It is a complicated situation and one I hope will improve over time,as I personally think racism for a large part barely exist any more.
All of us can really do is ensure we adhere to the highest standards and make sure our children do as well,if enough people do this,eventually racism will be eradicated.
I do believe religion is an important part of our lives.

[ilikeshugden]

Bullying is one of the most unnecessary things on this Earth. I believe that all nations should take bullying with importance. This is because bullying is prevalent in not only America but other countries too. May the victims of bullying cases find happiness one day.

[dondrup]

Bullying happens everywhere around the world in all religions and cultures at all levels. Bullies enjoy inflicting harm onto their victims instinctively. Many had turned into bullies due to conditions surrounding their lives from young. It could be due to many factors such as a difficult childhood, lack of love and proper upbringing by parents. Not being exposed to any religious teachings may be one contributing factor. The real cause of being bullied is because the victim has preciously bullied the bully!

In this case Prabhdeep had done the right thing to defend his religious practice of wearing the patka.  Similarly the Sikhs community would not have enjoyed the religious freedom today in America had they not pursued their religious right fervently and educated the Americans about Sikhism.

[Jessie Fong]

These two young performers turned bullying to their advantage -- they performed "Hopeful" with their own lyrics, during the audition at Britain's Got Talent.  They got the audience' and judges' attention with their rap performance.  Charlie and Leondre wrote their own lyrics.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1325870/watch-boys-perform-anti-bullying-rap-on-britains-got-talent/
Leondre, who was bullied in school, rapped: “Please help me God / I feel so alone / I’m just a kid / How can I take it on my own? / I cried too many tears writing this song / Trying to fit in / Where do I belong?”

[grandmapele]

Bullying isn't about differences but more of a power struggle and greed. Bullies want control, bullies want what the other person is perceived to have.

If from a young age,  children are taught to love, respect and honor elders and others, you will see less bullying. Unfortunately, not all teachers are of the right caliber. Therein lies the beginning of the problem. How do we get enough teachers who have left their egos, anger, greed hatred behind? Tough call by the people in charge.

[fruven]

Bullying is a big problem. It can become like an infection where the bullied kids will grow up one day and become parents. What happens next? Their mental conditions can influence their kids to become bullies. The bully is always about me having control by controling others which doesn't improve his inferiority complex. It will just become worst. The best is stop bullying. Parents and school teachers must be responsible for their kids. Otherwise how would they become wonderful, and confident adult when they grow up?

[brian]

i have a neighbour who had a child who killed his 'friend' for bullying him. It was later made known that the boy (killer) had been bullied by the notorious student for many years ever since their childhood and the boy has been keeping mum about it. It turned out that the boy finally could not take it anymore and out of sudden he made the surprise fightback to kill the bully.

[X]

The feeling of getting bullied is really unpleasant. It make the person feel like an outcast. I am not a bully victim, but I’ve seen quite a lot of videos posted by bully victims on Social Media, trying to defend themselves and it is terrible. Bullies have no idea how their actions can affect a person so much. They are selfish, ignorant and childish. Bully victims lose confidence, they feel hopeless in their life, carry the feeling of fear most of the time, etc. In extreme cases, bullying can force someone to go crazy or even commit suicide. In this case, it is a total disrespect to the person who got bullied and also the religion. Nobody in this world like others to make fun of them, make fun of their religion, make fun of their families, etc. We must have respect for everybody, any religion. We are all humans, we have feelings, we are no different from each other. So, STOP THE BULLYING! It is no fun!

[brian]

I think bullying is really a major problem in our society. It reflects badly to the community and remain a constant social problem to the public. It creates many a lot of unrest for the kids especially and will have a devastating effect in the long run.

[maricisun]

Bullying literally means power. Power to control the weak. The bullies wild have no compassion or any religious upbringing or they are ignorant.
At this age of modernisation, any religious info on all religions can be found in an instant. To know what the turban symbolises is to respect other.
No respect shown through bullying and other beliefs. How sad. How the ones get bullied may have a devastating effect in their life later too.

[angelsherfield]

Bullying happens in any stage of our life. It can be during school time and career path. Bullying can be light as teasing/ insulting the weak one in public. The serious one can cause injuries and death.

My friend's son who is now studying in high school, he shared that bullying happened to freshies and the weak students. He used to be one who is being bully. He has to be more careful and alert whenever going to washroom or even after class. He never know where the bullies are hiding and what they plan. During these period, it makes him fear and worry to deal with bullies every school day. He feel stressful and starts close up himself and creates distance with family and friends.

However later he got the opportunity to learn dharma. He understand about karma and compassion. He chooses to forgive the bullies. Dharma knowledge is so powerful to keep people strong and being compassion.