Les Murray,our most famous living Australian poet was the subject of intense bullying when he was a student at Taree High School NSW. Bullying has reached epidemic proportions in schools and in the work place. Les has written an insightful poem about this. So if you fall into the category of one of Les' sad flies buzzing round a pool of treacle perhaps you could check out something more uplifting like the lemongrass in the vegetable patch.
Where humans can't leave and mustn't complain
A Poem by Les Murray
Where humans can't leave and mustn't complain,
There some will emerge who enjoy giving pain.
A dreary intense groove leads to each one
they pick to torment, and the rest will then shun.
Some who might have been picked, and natural police,
do routine hurt, the catcalling, the giving-no-peace,
but dull brilliance evolves the betrayal and names
that sear life dignity and life like interior flames.
Whole circles get enlisted, and blood loyalties reversed
by self- avengers and failures-getting-in first
but this is the eye of fashion. Its sniggering stare
breeds silenced accomplices. Courage proves rare.
This powers revolution; this draws flies to sad pools;
this is the true curriculum of schools.
I don't understand the bullying impulse. It serves no purpose. The victim is no competitor for food or mates. There is no advantage. Just that warm sense of belonging that can only exist if someone else is outside.
ReplyDeleteIt's simply sating the blood lust,natural to probably the majority of people..That's why the Colosseum was such a success.If it were still allowed it would be packed to the rafters with spectators watching victims being torn to shreds by wild beasts for sport. Now people have to make do with gratuitous violence on the screen or football instead. Read " Lord of the Flies" by William Golding.
ReplyDeleteencore! encore! THIS IS TRULY A WONDERFUL WRITE! here's my potluck http://fiveloaf.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/paper-scribbles/
ReplyDeleteHaunting and, unfortunately, true. Well done.
ReplyDeleteVery good.
ReplyDeleteI was bullied mercilessly as a kid, by an abusive father and also by a cousin a couple of years older than me. The first one set me up to be easy pickings for the second.
(not complaining, just relating)
Sad but true; bullying is an epidemic.
Bullying sadly is a part of life. Victims must be made aware of effective strategies to protect themselves.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is being used as a tool at the moment to demonstrate this to a group of young bullied students; to enable them to observe the behaviour
of bulliers and their co dependents and to illustrate to them that it is not just the domain of children and teenagers;that it is present in all demographics.
Thanks for commenting Paul.This must have been a difficult admission.It happens too often and the recommended strategies are not working and only empower the bullies.Time for a change!