As I mentioned in a thread below, my Sunday column about school bullying and its lasting impact is now online. Here's how it ends:
What happened to me was nothing compared with what was done to those boys at Sunnyvale, yet it directed the rest of my life. I left my hometown - ran away, really - and couldn't stand to look back. Broke my mom and dad's heart.Years later, when my own heart was broken by the systematic protection of sexual criminals by the Roman Catholic Church, I thrashed around, pinned by rage and panic over what pervert priests had done to children and what bishops who knew better allowed to go unpunished. I left my church to escape the pain like a wild animal chews off its leg to get out of a trap.
The anger that wrecked my faith didn't start with news stories of clerical sex abuse I read. It started the summer before eighth grade, on a hotel room floor. What happened in the Sunnyvale locker room won't stay there. Those brutalized boys will live with it the rest of their lives. So should the adults who failed them.
I'm getting lots of e-mail on it on my Dallasnews.com address. A sampling:
I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your column "Bullying marks you for life." My husband and I are both teachers in a private school, yet every year we see what people would consider "mild" cases of bullying (no bullying is "mild" in my opinion). Because this subject is so important, I have required my 10th grade English classes to read The Wounded Spirit, by Frank Peretti. We spend much time discussing the issue of bullying and how it can effect people for years. I cut out your article to share with my students in the coming year. My husband, who is a junior high teacher and coach, is also very much aware of the impact of bullying and tries to be an advocate for the younger and "weaker" students. Just this year a 7th grader in our school told of boys "pulling their shirt up", etc.and making fun of him because he preferred modesty. It was very difficult of him to tell what happened and he is still ashamed to even talk about it (as if he were to blame). As my husband said, bullying starts out mild, but then has to escalate if nothing is done on the lower level. Thankfully, we have administration and teachers who take care of issues as soon as they arise, which is one reason we have had our children in private school. It disturbes me, however, when I hear about a school like Sunnyvale where administration seems to think that "mild bullying" is normal....and then seem surprised when worse happens...it should not be! I appreciate your transparency in your article. It can't be easy to share a humiliating experience where the adults just ignored your plight. I hope you will take time to read A Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti....it has impacted many of my students in the past 7 years.
And this, from a high school teacher:
For me, it was 7th grade. Didn't stop for a full half of a school year until I decided to take out one of the bullies by defending myself. The teacher had to pull me off of him as I was pounding his head against the floor. That is pretty much when it stopped, but the fact it had to go that far, given what I had told many, many adults, was ridiculous. I think that is also why I will never teach in a junior high. Just don't want to deal with that age level ever again.
And:
Just read your column on being bullied. It's been close to 50 years for me but the memory still stings. It's good to know I'm not the only one.
I was talking with a friend yesterday about how things that happen in childhood can dramatically affect the rest of our lives, in ways that are hard to anticipate. He told me about years ago talking to a Catholic filmmaker who had a production role in a film that had to do with Hugh Hefner. Because of her moral convictions, she struggled with the assignment. So she interviewed Hefner, and got him talk about how desperately he longed for his mother's affection, but never got it. He had a bunny blanket that was his prized possession, and which he saw as a substitute for the maternal love he craved, but never got. Anyway, hearing this from the man's mouth gave her a different view of the old satyr. He was broken by his mother's failure to love, and look what terrible things came out of that brokenness.
(That's not just an apocryphal story. Hefner told a similar version to the NYTimes in 1992. Excerpt:
"The real Rosebud of my life was the Puritans," he says. "My parents' inability to show love in a physical or emotional way. My mother is 97 years old; she'll be here for Thanksgiving. I think she's very proud of me. I've tried to communicate with her, but you reach a point where you live in two different worlds.""My other Citizen Kane image was my bunny blanket," he continues, "which was white with bunnies on it. When I was 6 or 7 I had to have an ear operation, and I wanted a dog more than anything, so after the operation my parents got me a fox terrier. And I loved it so much, I gave him my blanket for his box. But he got sick and died and the blanket had to be burned." He smiles slyly. "So you could say that's why I went out and created an entire bunny empire."
That reminded me of a story about Al Goldstein, the legendary pornographer, who makes Hefner look like Caravaggio. I profiled him for my newspaper back in 1996, or thereabouts, in connection with that Hollywood movie about Larry Flynt. Goldstein was our own local pornographer in Fort Lauderdale. Given my own Catholic convictions, I approached the story with real distaste.
Goldstein was a pig, as you might expect, but he was also a kind and generous man, at least to me. And as I posted about in this CC entry from a couple years ago, Goldstein had a painful childhood, and was the victim of, yes, bullies; I came to understand his entire sordid career was a baroque exorcise in self-loathing and self-torment. Unsurprisingly, young Goldstein was introduced into the world of sexuality as a young teenager, when an uncle took him to a whorehouse -- an act Al credits with getting him started on the road to being a pornographer.
None of this is to excuse in any way the evil that these men, or any men (or women) do, by blaming it on their childhood. Still, abuse, emotional and physical, in childhood can and does play out in the victim's life in sad and destructive ways. Not in every victim's life, of course; some manage to overcome it and return good for the evil that was done to them. They are very blessed indeed.
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Thanks to Mr Dreher for his comments on "Bullying," at Sunnyvale as well as his own personal expereince. I appreciate his contribution to helping publicize and address this very serious problem. School bullies eventually grow up and may become bullies in the workplace. I was subjected to some bullying at school although nothing as serious as reported by Mr. Dreher. However the very serious bullying I experienced took place recently in a work setting in the health care field which is one of the areas where bullying is especially prevalent.
I was employed for 30 years at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (SARMC)in Boise, Idaho as a respiratory therapist. SARMC is affiliated with Trinity Health who have their headquarters in Novi, Michigan and have medical facilities in seven states. In Jan. of 2004 I became the target of a psychologically abusive female co-worker, apparently because she did not approve of my religious or political beliefs. On a regular basis for more than 2.5 years she jeopardized patient care by creating and maintaining a toxic work environment. Her behavior included refusing to communicate with me (which was necessary for proper patient care to be given), making false accusations about me, withholding information I needed to do my job, and many other intentionally hostile acts.
After a year of this kind of abuse I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a potentionally disabling psychiatric injury as a result of her behavior. By August of 2006 I had to leave because I was gradually becoming disabled by this ongoing ordeal.
What made the whole experience even worst was that when I reported her behavior to management, they refused to do anything to address the problem! After a couple months of her harmful behavior I reported it to the department manager. Nothing was done. I kept reporting it several more times during that first year. After the PTSD diagnosis, I also reported the bullying and the injury to the human resource department, to a member of senior management, and eventually even to the CEO, as well as to a surgeon whose patient I had been several times before, and who was also a chairperson of the Bioethics Committee. The surgeon and the CEO never responded to my report, which was in writing. Department, Human Resource, and Senior Managers all ordered me to not talk about my injuries to my co-workers. Twice the department manager claimed that my PTSD injuries were "petty." The manager from human resources was especially rude, threatening to fire me for reporting the PTSD injury to him, ordering me to lie about the injury if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me if I reported any more problem behavior of the bully to him or to the department manager. Even though I had an excellent work record, I obviously had no choice but to quit.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about what happened to me and how I should respond. Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health are a part of the systems of Catholic Health care in this country. Both have excellent written "Standards of Conduct" or "Employee Customer Standards," but actual adherence to those standards is frequently non-existent. It's clear that at Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health upper-level management considers themsleves exempt from following their own standards. The Trinity Health Core Values include the following: "We
value and esteem every human person because each and every one
is created by God, in the image of God," and "People come to us
when they are in need and distress. In the spirit of Jesus we
recognize their need and seek to respond to it. We reach out to
them in their need and suffering and care for them in body,
mind, and spirit."
Contrast that with the experience I had of the department manager claiming that PTSD is "petty," and of the employee relations manager, red-faced and bellowing at me across the table in the department manager's tiny office, ordering me to lie about the PTSD if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me, literally for being injured on the job, and for reporting patient-endangering behavior by an abusive co-worker!
Even though I worked for SARMC which brags about being the place where "advanced healing begins," what began there for me was the worst injury I've ever sustained in my 60 years on this earth. After I reported the PTSD to them, management never offered me any treatment for it. I had to seek and finance treatment myself included medication and therapy which is still ongoing, more than four and a half years after the bullying began. I should also add that a St. Alphonsus professional first diagnosed the PTSD as occuring on the job at St Alphonsus, but St. Alphonsus still never offered me any protection from the abusive co-worker, not any treatment for the PTSD!
Unfortunately my experiences as an employee of Trinity Health are not unique. Others at Saint Alphonsus have had similar experiences. Another long-term employee who had to leave for similar reasons told me that she was treated by management as if she were, "as disposable as a used paper towel." Recently I spoke with a young woman who reported that she was fired from Saint Alphonsus because she was having a difficult pregnancy and had to be on bedrest to protect her health as well as the health of the unborn baby. Another former employee was fired because she reported some unethical behavior by a physician to the Trinity Health Integrity Hot Line, even though the "standards" promise that employees will not be retaliated against for reporting problems.
Without a doubt malicious behavior, such as I and others have experienced from employers who claim to be Christian, is giving all Christian a bad reputation. Bullying is bad in any school or work setting, but it's especially harmful when the employer is a health care facility that claims to have a Christian focus or foundation! Certainly strong ethical unions could do a lot to prevent employees from this kind of abusive treatment by co-owrkers or management but union strength in this country has been seriously eroded by misguided conservative efforts. An alternative is for those who have been bullied, or know of others who have been bullied, to speak out. Naturally if you are still employed by or with the bully, speaking out at work may cost you your job. But you can probably talk to others about it. As a Christian I've tried to find a non-vindictive way of addressing the problem. For me this includes, whenever I have the opportunity, telling others what happened to me, as I am doing now in this comment. I included an April 11 entry on my blog at www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com about being bullied and will be adding more this month. Thanks again Mr. Dreher.
Leonard Nolt
Boise, Idaho
Thanks to Mr Dreher for his comments on "Bullying," at Sunnyvale as well as his own personal expereince. I appreciate his contribution to helping publicize and address this very serious problem. School bullies eventually grow up and may become bullies in the workplace. I was subjected to some bullying at school although nothing as serious as reported by Mr. Dreher. However the very serious bullying I experienced took place recently in a work setting in the health care field which is one of the areas where bullying is especially prevalent.
I was employed for 30 years at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (SARMC)in Boise, Idaho as a respiratory therapist. SARMC is affiliated with Trinity Health who have their headquarters in Novi, Michigan and have medical facilities in seven states. In Jan. of 2004 I became the target of a psychologically abusive female co-worker, apparently because she did not approve of my religious or political beliefs. On a regular basis for more than 2.5 years she jeopardized patient care by creating and maintaining a toxic work environment. Her behavior included refusing to communicate with me (which was necessary for proper patient care to be given), making false accusations about me, withholding information I needed to do my job, and many other intentionally hostile acts.
After a year of this kind of abuse I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a potentionally disabling psychiatric injury as a result of her behavior. By August of 2006 I had to leave because I was gradually becoming disabled by this ongoing ordeal.
What made the whole experience even worst was that when I reported her behavior to management, they refused to do anything to address the problem! After a couple months of her harmful behavior I reported it to the department manager. Nothing was done. I kept reporting it several more times during that first year. After the PTSD diagnosis, I also reported the bullying and the injury to the human resource department, to a member of senior management, and eventually even to the CEO, as well as to a surgeon whose patient I had been several times before, and who was also a chairperson of the Bioethics Committee. The surgeon and the CEO never responded to my report, which was in writing. Department, Human Resource, and Senior Managers all ordered me to not talk about my injuries to my co-workers. Twice the department manager claimed that my PTSD injuries were "petty." The manager from human resources was especially rude, threatening to fire me for reporting the PTSD injury to him, ordering me to lie about the injury if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me if I reported any more problem behavior of the bully to him or to the department manager. Even though I had an excellent work record, I obviously had no choice but to quit.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about what happened to me and how I should respond. Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health are a part of the systems of Catholic Health care in this country. Both have excellent written "Standards of Conduct" or "Employee Customer Standards," but actual adherence to those standards is frequently non-existent. It's clear that at Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health upper-level management considers themsleves exempt from following their own standards. The Trinity Health Core Values include the following: "We
value and esteem every human person because each and every one
is created by God, in the image of God," and "People come to us
when they are in need and distress. In the spirit of Jesus we
recognize their need and seek to respond to it. We reach out to
them in their need and suffering and care for them in body,
mind, and spirit."
Contrast that with the experience I had of the department manager claiming that PTSD is "petty," and of the employee relations manager, red-faced and bellowing at me across the table in the department manager's tiny office, ordering me to lie about the PTSD if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me, literally for being injured on the job, and for reporting patient-endangering behavior by an abusive co-worker!
Even though I worked for SARMC which brags about being the place where "advanced healing begins," what began there for me was the worst injury I've ever sustained in my 60 years on this earth. After I reported the PTSD to them, management never offered me any treatment for it. I had to seek and finance treatment myself included medication and therapy which is still ongoing, more than four and a half years after the bullying began. I should also add that a St. Alphonsus professional first diagnosed the PTSD as occuring on the job at St Alphonsus, but St. Alphonsus still never offered me any protection from the abusive co-worker, not any treatment for the PTSD!
Unfortunately my experiences as an employee of Trinity Health are not unique. Others at Saint Alphonsus have had similar experiences. Another long-term employee who had to leave for similar reasons told me that she was treated by management as if she were, "as disposable as a used paper towel." Recently I spoke with a young woman who reported that she was fired from Saint Alphonsus because she was having a difficult pregnancy and had to be on bedrest to protect her health as well as the health of the unborn baby. Another former employee was fired because she reported some unethical behavior by a physician to the Trinity Health Integrity Hot Line, even though the "standards" promise that employees will not be retaliated against for reporting problems.
Without a doubt malicious behavior, such as I and others have experienced from employers who claim to be Christian, is giving all Christian a bad reputation. Bullying is bad in any school or work setting, but it's especially harmful when the employer is a health care facility that claims to have a Christian focus or foundation! Certainly strong ethical unions could do a lot to prevent employees from this kind of abusive treatment by co-owrkers or management but union strength in this country has been seriously eroded by misguided conservative efforts. An alternative is for those who have been bullied, or know of others who have been bullied, to speak out. Naturally if you are still employed by or with the bully, speaking out at work may cost you your job. But you can probably talk to others about it. As a Christian I've tried to find a non-vindictive way of addressing the problem. For me this includes, whenever I have the opportunity, telling others what happened to me, as I am doing now in this comment. I included an April 11 entry on my blog at www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com about being bullied and will be adding more this month. Thanks again Mr. Dreher.
Leonard Nolt
Boise, Idaho
Thanks to Mr Dreher for his comments on "Bullying," at Sunnyvale as well as his own personal expereince. I appreciate his contribution to helping publicize and address this very serious problem. School bullies eventually grow up and may become bullies in the workplace. I was subjected to some bullying at school although nothing as serious as reported by Mr. Dreher. However the very serious bullying I experienced took place recently in a work setting in the health care field which is one of the areas where bullying is especially prevalent.
I was employed for 30 years at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (SARMC)in Boise, Idaho as a respiratory therapist. SARMC is affiliated with Trinity Health who have their headquarters in Novi, Michigan and have medical facilities in seven states. In Jan. of 2004 I became the target of a psychologically abusive female co-worker, apparently because she did not approve of my religious or political beliefs. On a regular basis for more than 2.5 years she jeopardized patient care by creating and maintaining a toxic work environment. Her behavior included refusing to communicate with me (which was necessary for proper patient care to be given), making false accusations about me, withholding information I needed to do my job, and many other intentionally hostile acts.
After a year of this kind of abuse I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a potentionally disabling psychiatric injury as a result of her behavior. By August of 2006 I had to leave because I was gradually becoming disabled by this ongoing ordeal.
What made the whole experience even worst was that when I reported her behavior to management, they refused to do anything to address the problem! After a couple months of her harmful behavior I reported it to the department manager. Nothing was done. I kept reporting it several more times during that first year. After the PTSD diagnosis, I also reported the bullying and the injury to the human resource department, to a member of senior management, and eventually even to the CEO, as well as to a surgeon whose patient I had been several times before, and who was also a chairperson of the Bioethics Committee. The surgeon and the CEO never responded to my report, which was in writing. Department, Human Resource, and Senior Managers all ordered me to not talk about my injuries to my co-workers. Twice the department manager claimed that my PTSD injuries were "petty." The manager from human resources was especially rude, threatening to fire me for reporting the PTSD injury to him, ordering me to lie about the injury if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me if I reported any more problem behavior of the bully to him or to the department manager. Even though I had an excellent work record, I obviously had no choice but to quit.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about what happened to me and how I should respond. Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health are a part of the systems of Catholic Health care in this country. Both have excellent written "Standards of Conduct" or "Employee Customer Standards," but actual adherence to those standards is frequently non-existent. It's clear that at Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health upper-level management considers themsleves exempt from following their own standards. The Trinity Health Core Values include the following: "We
value and esteem every human person because each and every one
is created by God, in the image of God," and "People come to us
when they are in need and distress. In the spirit of Jesus we
recognize their need and seek to respond to it. We reach out to
them in their need and suffering and care for them in body,
mind, and spirit."
Contrast that with the experience I had of the department manager claiming that PTSD is "petty," and of the employee relations manager, red-faced and bellowing at me across the table in the department manager's tiny office, ordering me to lie about the PTSD if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me, literally for being injured on the job, and for reporting patient-endangering behavior by an abusive co-worker!
Even though I worked for SARMC which brags about being the place where "advanced healing begins," what began there for me was the worst injury I've ever sustained in my 60 years on this earth. After I reported the PTSD to them, management never offered me any treatment for it. I had to seek and finance treatment myself included medication and therapy which is still ongoing, more than four and a half years after the bullying began. I should also add that a St. Alphonsus professional first diagnosed the PTSD as occuring on the job at St Alphonsus, but St. Alphonsus still never offered me any protection from the abusive co-worker, not any treatment for the PTSD!
Unfortunately my experiences as an employee of Trinity Health are not unique. Others at Saint Alphonsus have had similar experiences. Another long-term employee who had to leave for similar reasons told me that she was treated by management as if she were, "as disposable as a used paper towel." Recently I spoke with a young woman who reported that she was fired from Saint Alphonsus because she was having a difficult pregnancy and had to be on bedrest to protect her health as well as the health of the unborn baby. Another former employee was fired because she reported some unethical behavior by a physician to the Trinity Health Integrity Hot Line, even though the "standards" promise that employees will not be retaliated against for reporting problems.
Without a doubt malicious behavior, such as I and others have experienced from employers who claim to be Christian, is giving all Christian a bad reputation. Bullying is bad in any school or work setting, but it's especially harmful when the employer is a health care facility that claims to have a Christian focus or foundation! Certainly strong ethical unions could do a lot to prevent employees from this kind of abusive treatment by co-owrkers or management but union strength in this country has been seriously eroded by misguided conservative efforts. An alternative is for those who have been bullied, or know of others who have been bullied, to speak out. Naturally if you are still employed by or with the bully, speaking out at work may cost you your job. But you can probably talk to others about it. As a Christian I've tried to find a non-vindictive way of addressing the problem. For me this includes, whenever I have the opportunity, telling others what happened to me, as I am doing now in this comment. I included an April 11 entry on my blog at www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com about being bullied and will be adding more this month. Thanks again Mr. Dreher.
Leonard Nolt
Boise, Idaho
Thanks to Mr Dreher for his comments on "Bullying," at Sunnyvale as well as his own personal expereince. I appreciate his contribution to helping publicize and address this very serious problem. School bullies eventually grow up and may become bullies in the workplace. I was subjected to some bullying at school although nothing as serious as reported by Mr. Dreher. However the very serious bullying I experienced took place recently in a work setting in the health care field which is one of the areas where bullying is especially prevalent.
I was employed for 30 years at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (SARMC)in Boise, Idaho as a respiratory therapist. SARMC is affiliated with Trinity Health who have their headquarters in Novi, Michigan and have medical facilities in seven states. In Jan. of 2004 I became the target of a psychologically abusive female co-worker, apparently because she did not approve of my religious or political beliefs. On a regular basis for more than 2.5 years she jeopardized patient care by creating and maintaining a toxic work environment. Her behavior included refusing to communicate with me (which was necessary for proper patient care to be given), making false accusations about me, withholding information I needed to do my job, and many other intentionally hostile acts.
After a year of this kind of abuse I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a potentionally disabling psychiatric injury as a result of her behavior. By August of 2006 I had to leave because I was gradually becoming disabled by this ongoing ordeal.
What made the whole experience even worst was that when I reported her behavior to management, they refused to do anything to address the problem! After a couple months of her harmful behavior I reported it to the department manager. Nothing was done. I kept reporting it several more times during that first year. After the PTSD diagnosis, I also reported the bullying and the injury to the human resource department, to a member of senior management, and eventually even to the CEO, as well as to a surgeon whose patient I had been several times before, and who was also a chairperson of the Bioethics Committee. The surgeon and the CEO never responded to my report, which was in writing. Department, Human Resource, and Senior Managers all ordered me to not talk about my injuries to my co-workers. Twice the department manager claimed that my PTSD injuries were "petty." The manager from human resources was especially rude, threatening to fire me for reporting the PTSD injury to him, ordering me to lie about the injury if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me if I reported any more problem behavior of the bully to him or to the department manager. Even though I had an excellent work record, I obviously had no choice but to quit.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about what happened to me and how I should respond. Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health are a part of the systems of Catholic Health care in this country. Both have excellent written "Standards of Conduct" or "Employee Customer Standards," but actual adherence to those standards is frequently non-existent. It's clear that at Saint Alphonsus and Trinity Health upper-level management considers themsleves exempt from following their own standards. The Trinity Health Core Values include the following: "We
value and esteem every human person because each and every one
is created by God, in the image of God," and "People come to us
when they are in need and distress. In the spirit of Jesus we
recognize their need and seek to respond to it. We reach out to
them in their need and suffering and care for them in body,
mind, and spirit."
Contrast that with the experience I had of the department manager claiming that PTSD is "petty," and of the employee relations manager, red-faced and bellowing at me across the table in the department manager's tiny office, ordering me to lie about the PTSD if anyone asked, and threatening to fire me, literally for being injured on the job, and for reporting patient-endangering behavior by an abusive co-worker!
Even though I worked for SARMC which brags about being the place where "advanced healing begins," what began there for me was the worst injury I've ever sustained in my 60 years on this earth. After I reported the PTSD to them, management never offered me any treatment for it. I had to seek and finance treatment myself included medication and therapy which is still ongoing, more than four and a half years after the bullying began. I should also add that a St. Alphonsus professional first diagnosed the PTSD as occuring on the job at St Alphonsus, but St. Alphonsus still never offered me any protection from the abusive co-worker, not any treatment for the PTSD!
Unfortunately my experiences as an employee of Trinity Health are not unique. Others at Saint Alphonsus have had similar experiences. Another long-term employee who had to leave for similar reasons told me that she was treated by management as if she were, "as disposable as a used paper towel." Recently I spoke with a young woman who reported that she was fired from Saint Alphonsus because she was having a difficult pregnancy and had to be on bedrest to protect her health as well as the health of the unborn baby. Another former employee was fired because she reported some unethical behavior by a physician to the Trinity Health Integrity Hot Line, even though the "standards" promise that employees will not be retaliated against for reporting problems.
Without a doubt malicious behavior, such as I and others have experienced from employers who claim to be Christian, is giving all Christian a bad reputation. Bullying is bad in any school or work setting, but it's especially harmful when the employer is a health care facility that claims to have a Christian focus or foundation! Certainly strong ethical unions could do a lot to prevent employees from this kind of abusive treatment by co-owrkers or management but union strength in this country has been seriously eroded by misguided conservative efforts. An alternative is for those who have been bullied, or know of others who have been bullied, to speak out. Naturally if you are still employed by or with the bully, speaking out at work may cost you your job. But you can probably talk to others about it. As a Christian I've tried to find a non-vindictive way of addressing the problem. For me this includes, whenever I have the opportunity, telling others what happened to me, as I am doing now in this comment. I included an April 11 entry on my blog at www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com about being bullied and will be adding more this month. Thanks again Mr. Dreher.
Leonard Nolt
Boise, Idaho
Mr. Dreher,
What happened to my comment that I left you on this site? I guess the only comments that aren't erased are only the ones that agree with you. I think that this whole situation has been blown out of porportion. There is no doubt that some bullying occured, but I DO NOT believe that it went to the extremes that you have claimed. I would like to see a copy of the police report. These are children that you are slandering. You are just as much a bully by writing things that you really do not no about. Just because you were abused doesn't give you the right to assume that these boys are guilty. I don't believe this. And they are innocent until proven guilty. You have helped in ruining the reputation of Sunnyvale. Go to therapy and get over your problems and stop trying to ruin innocent childrens lives that you have no idea about. I DO NOT BELIEVE THESE ACCUSED CHILDREN WERE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED!
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